Folie a Deux
by Technomad
Summary: Kaz and Sakura aren't the sweet nice couple everybody thinks they are. Instead, they're a pair of sociopathic professional criminals-caught up in the BR Program! Surprises lie ahead! Mangaverse AU.
1. Chapter 1

Folie a Deux

by Technomad

A _Battle Royale_ AU story

Chapter 1---Cliffside Decision

Okishima Island

"It's so peaceful here," whispered Sakura Ogawai. She nestled closer to her boyfriend, Kazuhiko Yamamoto, looking out over the Seto Inland Sea. They were seated on the edge of a tall cliff, with the waves pounding the shore thirty meters below. The moon was full overhead, and she could see the moonlight shimmering on the water, as well as the lights of towns lining the shoreline opposite. It was a lovely evening.

"I know," murmured Kazuhiko. "It won't last, though."

"I don't want to die!" Sakura burst out passionately. She felt tears running down her face. "I don't! I don't! I don't!" She gripped his arm as hard as she could. "But you have to play, Kaz! Play to win!"

Kazuhiko looked deep into her eyes. "What if _we_ play?"

"What?" Sakura tried to wrap her mind around the idea. "Play---together?"

Kazuhiko nodded, giving her a dark smile. She felt herself involuntarily returning it. "Yes. Team up and _play_. With two of us working together, we should be able to cut quite a swath through the rest of our classmates. You don't care about any of them, do you now?"

Sakura shook her head. Ever since she'd first met Kazuhiko, the thrill of finding a fellow spirit and the activities they had found for themselves had meant that she hardly paid attention to who was in class with her any more. They kept up their grades because it was good policy to do so; the more they played the role of "good little boy/girl" where the adults could see them, the more freedom they had to do as they pleased.

She held up her purse. "Remember this?"

"It's a purse."

"Silly boy! Remember how we got it?"

"Sure do!" He grinned at the memory. It had been one of their first joint exploits. They had been sitting side-by-side in the train station on their first date, when an older girl had come by, obviously far the worse for drink. She had a purse in her hand, and was trying to fumble money out of a huge wad of bills to pay for her ticket. Kazuhiko and Sakura had exchanged glances, and had wordlessly come to a decision.

Luring the girl out of the station had been almost ridiculously easy---all it had taken was Sakura approaching her and offering her more to drink. Once they'd enticed her into a deserted alley, they had pounced. Leaving her body stuffed into a convenient trash container, they had headed for Sakura's home, which was closest by. Nobody paid attention to a clean-cut young man and his girlfriend walking down the street, even if the girl was clutching a purse that didn't go with her outfit. After all, young girls often didn't have the money for matching accessories, did they?

"I've kept it ever since, as a souvenir of an auspicious occasion. I'd longed for a fellow-spirit, and finding one who's male, good in bed, and good-looking was a dream come true."

"They've never even come close to suspecting us, have they, Sakura?" Kazuhiko smiled. The moonlight turned his smile into an evil leer. "Unlike _some_ people, our reputation is pure gold!"

Since they'd teamed up, Kazuhiko and Sakura had caused a crime wave in Shiroiwa and surrounding towns. Even the government-controlled press had had to take notice---there had been editorials calling on the authorities to crack down on crime, and they had seen reports on TV and in the papers about known Yakuza and other criminals being hauled in for "questioning."

Nobody had even whispered an accusation about either of them. Of course, they had taken all possible precautions---rubber gloves with the palms cut out so their hands wouldn't sweat, bathing caps to keep their hair in place, and careful reconnaissance before striking---but how easy it was to get away with murder, theft, and arson, as long as you were careful to keep up appearances in public!

Sakura smiled back, rather maliciously. "It's so convenient, having Kiriyama's thugs, or Mitsuko and her slappers, around. Nobody pays attention to us, and if people stumble on clues, they never look at us twice."

"And if they end up going away, or worse, for some of the things we do---couldn't happen to nicer people." Kazuhiko grinned at his girlfriend. "So---shall we team up and see how far we go?"

As he spoke, he was writing rapidly on the note he had handed Sakura, and then pressing it into her palm. She unfolded it, and read: _They are listening to us. We're wired for sound---it's in these collars_.

She nodded. Kneeling down, she wrote with her fingertip in some loose dirt: _Once we have the others taken care of, we'll have twenty hours to figure out something to do about the collars._

Until the collars were removed, they'd have to be careful what they said. As long as they could write, though, they could communicate freely; the cameras that were recording this for the home audience wouldn't be able to pick up what they wrote on the ground unless they were uncharacteristically careless.

A rustle behind them alerted them to the fact that they weren't alone. Kazuhiko hefted his Colt Python, and Sakura drew the Glock she'd been issued. Wary as wild animals, they peered toward the noise.

At first, they couldn't see what it was, and then they could. Out of the shadows stepped a girl in an unmistakable school uniform. It was Yukio Utsumi, and she was carrying a pistol. Haruka Tanizawa was behind her.

"Kazuhiko? Sakura?" Yukio called. "It's okay---we're not playing!" She came closer, not seeming to sense danger from them. "We're teaming up, to try to find a way out!"

Wordlessly, Kazuhiko signalled Sakura to let the girls come closer. They did, and looked dreadfully surprised when he raised his Python and gave them each three rounds in the midsection, once they were close enough that he was sure to hit his target. Surprised looks on their faces, both girls crumpled, dead before they even hit the ground.

Sakura smiled as she began rifling through their bags, which she had spotted in the shadows on the edge of the trees. "It's always special with you, Kaz," she murmured, appropriating their late classmates' supplies. "Always."

END Chapter 01

_Author's note: I was reading another BR fic where the author was complaining that the class "Romeo-and-Juliet" always commited suicide in BR fiction just as they did in the original version(s). That got me thinking: What if Kaz and Sakura had been more like the Homolkas, or like the Joker and Harley Quinn? What if they'd both been sociopathic, and their relationship had been at least as much about sharing their sociopathy and teaming up against the rest of the world as it was about love? _

_Hence, this fic. I'm just going to see where it takes me. I hope you like it._


	2. Chapter 2

Folie a Deux

Chapter Two

by Technomad

Kazuhiko and Sakura slipped through the bushes, keeping as quiet as they could. In the distance, dawn was breaking over the Seto Inland Sea, bringing the promise of a grey day.

After killing Yukio and Haruka, they had headed deep into the woods. Finding a sheltered spot in the lee of a big rock, they had settled down for the night. They had taken it in turns to sleep, while the other kept watch. At one point, they had heard the harsh stutter of a submachinegun, several times. Other than that, the night had been peaceful. At dawn, they had moved out, after breaking their fast with some of the issue bread and water from Yukie and Haruka's bags---they were saving their own rations up.

"We should be finding people soon," muttered Kazuhiko. "I just hope that whoever it is with that damned submachinegun doesn't come upon us unexpectedly. That much firepower could take us down before we could do anything about it."

"I wish we knew who had what," Sakura answered, just as quietly---they had long since perfected the ability to speak to each other very quietly, without seeming to move their lips. They knew that murmurs carried less well than the hiss of whispers, and they didn't want to be overheard. "Some of our classmates wouldn't be a threat no matter what they got, while others---"

"Others---like us." Kazuhiko gave his girlfriend a wink. "Who do you think might be a threat?"

"I'd be most worried about Kazuo Kiriyama and that bunch of thugs he has following him around," answered Sakura, after a moment's thought. "Then I'd say that Mitsuko and her slappers might be a real threat, particularly if they're working together." She grinned. "Not that that would last long. I certainly wouldn't trust darling 'Hardcore' behind my back with a weapon!"

"She's got talent, but I'd say that she's much too impulsive to really make a _success_ of crime," Kazuhiko said, after a moment's consideration. "She could do better if she wasn't quite so fixed on the immediate profit."

"I imagine she'll be able to use the old sex appeal to lure a bunch of people in to their destruction. She did that back in Shiroiwa, at least if the rumor mill could be trusted," Sakura mused. "You remember that boxer that was killed, a few months ago? I'm fairly sure I saw sweet Mitsu with him on the street one evening, and she was very flush with cash just after his death."

"I remember him. He had a pretty bad reputation, from what I heard about him. You remember Old Tanaka?" Sakura nodded; they had sold quite a bit of their stolen goods through the old man's second-hand store; he was the only fence in Shiroiwa. He thought they were a pair of delinquents from a different neighborhood than the one they actually lived in, and didn't know their real names. What he didn't know, after all, he couldn't tell the wrong people. "Well---Old Tanaka knows people in the boxing world, and he said that guy was known for really being brutal, and there's several theories about what happened to him. If Mitsu did do it somehow, she got away clean." Kazuhiko grinned. "Apparently nobody even whispered her name."

"Like you said, she has talent," Sakura dismissed the subject. Pulling out a bottle of water from Yukie's bag, she sipped it, making it last for as long as she could. "But we have each other, and that's better!"

"Did I ever tell you that I love you?" Kazuhiko leaned close.

"Yes, but you can say that any time." Sakura kissed him.

A rustling sound in the bushes alerted them that they weren't alone, and they both drew their guns.

"Kaz! Sakura! It's just us! Don't shoot! For Buddha's sake, don't shoot! We're not playing!" Yukiko Kitano came out of the bushes, her hands up in the air. After a few seconds, her inseparable pal, Yumiko Kusaka, followed her. Both girls looked terrified.

"We're so glad to see you! Can you believe it---people out there are playing?" Yumiko seemed to be in the lead, as so often with those two. Sakura and Kazuhiko watched them silently, as Yumiko went on: "We're heading up to that observation post---the one on the hill. We're going to call out to the others. If we can get them to join us, we're going to stop the game cold!"

Yumiko sounded very sure of herself. She turned, and behind her back, Sakura and Kazuhiko exchanged glances. As plainly as though they'd said it aloud, they asked each other: _Is this woman for real?_

Sakura couldn't quite believe what she'd heard. Were those two idiots, or deaf? They'd been in that hell-classroom; they had to know the rules. It wasn't like the Program was any big secret, after all. They broadcast it every year, and no video store was without its selection of Program DVDs.

That said…if they were stupid enough, or naïve enough, to believe that they had a chance to overthrow the Program by passive resistance, who was she to turn away such a windfall? Behind the other girls' backs, she made a signal to Kazuhiko. _Stall them_.

"Well, that's a great idea, Yumiko. You and Yukiko come up with some good notions!" Kazuhiko's voice rang with sincerity, just as it did when he was luring a victim in to his or her doom on the streets of Shiroiwa. "Tell us what your plan entails! How are you going to let people know where you are?"

"Well---" Yumiko opened her bag---"we got a 'surprise' like they mentioned. This one's a bullhorn!" She produced it with a smile, and Kazuhiko's eyes went wide. "With it, we can be heard for over a kilometer, and people should be able to hear us all over this island! See?" She pulled out the map she had been issued, and indicated the scale of distance at the bottom. "Of course, a lot of the island's covered with forest, but we should get a lot of people who'll hear us!"

Kazuhiko nodded. When the other girls' attention was distracted, he caught Sakura's eye for a second. He tapped his forehead significantly.

Sakura agreed completely. Clearly, the other girls had gone insane. She knew enough about the Program to be aware that every time it was run, contestants went mad. Some just withdrew into themselves, refusing to accept the new reality; others became delusional, or attacked everything in sight in a killing frenzy. She was self-aware enough to know that many people would think that she and Kaz were mad, which, she thought, conferred an advantage in the Program. After all, if one was already insane, would that not provide protection against further insanity?

A premonitory crackle interrupted them. "Hush!" Kazuhiko said, gesturing for silence. "Time for the announcements."

Yumiko and Yukiko fell into blessed quiet as Kamon's self-satisfied drawl echoed out over the island: "Rise and shine, little warriors! What say we forego ritual and get right down to it, eh? I know how pressed you all are for time, so I'll try to keep this brief."

Sakura had her class list out, and licked the tip of her pencil, ready to tick off the names of the dead. Kazuhiko caught her eye and nodded approval. Yumiko and Yukiko were staring off into space, as though they thought that would take them out of the game.

"Just a quick reminder before we get down to it," Kamon continued. "Do please try to limit your activities to areas covered by more than one camera, if you could. Multiple angles make it easier to package the highlight reel for DVD. You understand?"

Yumiko and Yukiko both looked furious. If Kazuhiko hadn't emphatically gestured for quiet, Sakura was sure that they'd have burst out with enraged diatribes against the Program and all those who could gain pleasure from watching it. While Sakura wasn't as indignant about the whole thing as they were, she honestly couldn't blame them for being upset. _If they knew what we are, they'd be even __more__ upset_, she thought gleefully.

"Right, now, on to the dead!" Kamon sounded utterly content; a man at peace with the world and his place in it. If she and Kazuhiko had met him on the street, with that attitude in place, Sakura was quite sure that they could lure him in to his doom with little problem. Such self-satisfaction was a sure sign of overconfidence. And overconfidence, when dealing with such as herself and Kazuhiko, was a sure ticket to disaster. "Boy #1, Yoshio Akamatsu. Boy #3, Tatsumichi Ooki. Boy #9, Hiroshi Kuronaga. Boy #10, Ryuhei Sasagawa. Boy #17, Mitsuru Numai. And, last but never least, Boy #20, Kyoichi Motobuchi. The class representative was one of the first batch to go."

Sakura had noted down the names of the dead. She and Kazuhiko exchanged glances when Yumiko and Yukiko's attention was elsewhere. _We'll talk---later_.

"Now, on to the not-so-gentler sex," continued Kamon. Sakura perked up and paid close attention; she counted on Kazuhiko to keep track of the boys and analyze how things had been going among them. She was in charge of "girl business," as they referred to it. "Girl #2, Yukio Utsumi. Girl #3, Megumi Etou. Girl #5, Izumi Kanai. And Girl #12, Haruka Tanazawa. A real record-breaking pace has been set. Can you keep it up?"

At that, Yumiko and Yukiko looked like they were about to burst with rage. Sakura smothered a giggle at the way their faces turned red, and they visibly struggled to control themselves. If Kazuhiko hadn't made a shushing gesture, Sakura was sure that they'd have started shouting angrily, and any players---_other than ourselves_, she thought---would have found them even before they put their harebrained scheme into operation.

"Now, moving on to restricted areas---I hope you have your pencils ready," Kamon said, the cheap loudspeakers distorting his voice slightly. "Effective from 0700—J-2. 0900---F-1. 1100---H-8. Bingo!" A chuckle. "Sorry, couldn't resist! Until next time!" The loudspeakers clicked once as they were shut off.

Kazuhiko finished marking his map as Sakura did hers. Yumiko and Yukiko hadn't even pulled out their own maps. Now that they didn't need quiet any more, Sakura caught Kazuhiko's eye, and at his nod, she pulled out her pistol. Yumiko and Yukiko never knew what had hit them.

Sakura squatted down to look through their bags, heedless of the bleeding corpses. "Too stupid to live, weren't they?"

Kazuhiko knelt down to help out. "Too stupid to live."


	3. Chapter 3

Folie a Deux, Chapter Three

Prexia Dikianne

by Technomad

Kazuhiko and Sakura moved through the woods quietly. They made as little noise as they could; their experience at moving silently back in Shiroiwa turned out to be excellent practice for the Program. Once or twice, they thought they heard someone moving around, and once they heard labored breathing, but nobody came across them.

After an hour or so, they stopped to rest. There was a nice tree nearby, and Sakura pointed to it, raising a questioning eyebrow. At Kazuhiko's nod, she clambered on up, with him right behind her. Once they were a fair way up, they were hidden in the foliage, and out of the line-of-sight of most people.

"All those times out burgling in Shiroiwa and the surrounding towns came in handy in unexpected ways, didn't it?" murmured Kazuhiko.

Sakura smiled at him. They had picked up a lot of tricks since they had hooked up together. Before she had met Kazuhiko, she had already been an experienced thief, but her expertise had been limited to picking pockets and similar things on the rush-hour train, and shoplifting. She had often had to throw away valuable things she had filched, just because she didn't have the connections to dispose of them profitably, or the knowledge to set a good price.

In this, as in so many other things, Kazuhiko had been an incredible revelation. When they had met, he had already been an experienced housebreaker and cat-burglar, and had known how to profitably sell the things that he stole. Under his tutelage, she had learned the secrets of lockpicking, jimmying, and house-climbing, and with her as a lookout and backup, he had been able to expand his own horizons, going after targets he had had to pass up before.

By the time they had been sucked into the Program, they were both excellent climbers. When they were out "on the job," they could scramble up the side of a likely-looking target building much faster than anybody seeing them on the street would believe. They had modified their school uniforms to make climbing easier, altering them in subtle ways that weren't immediately apparent. They both had sets of lockpicks, but it didn't look like those would be very useful. In the Program, if you needed to get into a building, you could be perfectly open about breaking in---nobody would arrest you. Of course, you _could_ be shot, or ambushed inside the building by someone already in there, but nothing was perfect.

Out of sight, they relaxed. Kazuhiko opened one of the bags they were carrying, and passed Sakura some bread and a bottle of spring water. He took some for himself, and they sat side-by-side on branches, companionably eating and drinking. Sakura knew that Kazuhiko didn't normally talk during mealtimes, so she concentrated on her food. She wished for something better than the cheap packaged bread they had been issued with, but this was what they had, so she made do. _Maybe later we can try searching through the houses_, she thought. _The people here didn't have much notice that they were going to be evacuated, and they probably left some food behind_.

Below them, she heard noises, and she gestured to Kazuhiko to keep quiet as she looked down. Crashing through the bushes, making no attempt at caution, concealment, or stealth, came Keita Iijima. He paused beneath their tree, panting heavily.

Sakura looked at Kazuhiko. He shook his head. In the sign language they had worked out, he signalled _Wait. Don't move. Stay quiet_. Sakura nodded; they were well-found for food, had perfectly adequate weaponry, and with two of them to one of him, Iijima was no threat. Both of them held very still, watching Iijima from above.

If there was some sort of "sixth sense" that told people when they were being watched, Iijima did not seem to have it. Even though they were easily visible through the branches, it never seemed to occur to him to look up; he was too busy looking all around himself, clutching a butcher knife tightly in his hand. Sakura was privately quite amused at the thought of someone being issued nothing better than a butcher knife, but she knew that it could just as easily have been her and Kazuhiko who'd been stuck with worthless "surprises" instead of usable weapons. Even a butcher knife would be better than what they'd found in one of the bags they'd taken from Yumiko and Yukiko.

_I suppose a dartboard and darts does count as a "weapon" of sorts---but finding that when you need a real weapon wouldn't be funny_, decided Sakura. Although she was less upset about being in the Program than most of her classmates probably were, she still had plans for what she'd do if she caught the people responsible.

The other bag, though, had had something quite useful. Two hand grenades. Those were simple enough to use that Sakura was sure she could handle them; the problem with firearms was that they took some skill to use, particularly at a distance. Grenades, however…you just pulled the pin and threw. She had seen it done hundreds of times in movies and television shows.

Beneath them, Iijima moved on, his hoarse panting the loudest sound to be heard. Sakura didn't think much of his chances; between his miserable excuse for a weapon and his apparent inability to be stealthy, one of the better-equipped players would take him down before long. _No big loss_, she decided; she knew enough about Keita Iijima to know that he was a weak, treacherous person. Shinji Mimura had once told them about an incident where Iijima had deliberately held back and allowed Mimura to deal with a couple of wanna-be Yakuza who were trying to shake him down. After that, Mimura refused to have anything to do with Iijima, although they had been friends before.

Sakura found herself enjoying the day. The weather was pleasant, the fresh air off the Seto Inland Sea was a nice change from the exhaust-laden fumes of Shiroiwa, and she was with Kazuhiko. While she would have much preferred not to be in the Program, she didn't mind it as much as she knew her classmates would.

She started thinking about her classmates. Many of them, she knew, would be no particular threat unless she and Kazuhiko were caught unawares. Even with the best weapons, most of them would be very reluctant to kill. Of course, if they were frightened enough, or had gone off their rockers, they might shoot first and ask questions later.

There were those, though, who she knew would be dangerous. Tops on that list were Kazuo Kiriyama, Mitsuko Souma, and their respective followers. Kiriyama, in particular, would be very dangerous, and she knew that the thugs that he led would do whatever he said. _If we run into Kiriyama_, she decided, _I think we should just hide and let him go on past---particularly if he has his pals with him! _ If Kiriyama, or any of the thugs, were alone, that might be another story…but she thought, on the whole, that they'd stick together.

Mitsuko Souma, Sakura thought, was likelier to be playing a lone hand. She had followers, but her leadership, from what Sakura had gathered, was far less in her followers' interest than Kiriyama's. Sakura had heard her followers---Yoshimi Yahagi and Hirono Shimizu---talking in the girls' locker room or restrooms, when they didn't know she was there.

_Catch __me__ letting that bitch pimp me out, and keeping the money for herself? Not in __this__ lifetime!_ Sakura had no problems with _enjo kosai_---compensated dating, where she went out with men who'd pay her for her time, particularly if they ended up in bed---but as far as she was concerned, the money she made that way was hers and hers alone. Kazuhiko knew about it, and was quite amused by the stories she told of the men she'd met that way. Sometimes, he had arranged to be hidden in the room they went to so that he could take pictures. Those happy snaps had proven to be a very profitable sideline for them, since Sakura's customers often couldn't afford to let their activities become known to their employers or families. Other times, he had followed her customers, robbing them when the opportunity beckoned.

Sakura began to feel rather uncomfortable. Catching Kazuhiko's attention, she gave him their signal for needing to use the restroom. He nodded, and they scrambled down from the tree, after making sure that nobody was nearby. As Kaz kept watch, Sakura nipped off behind a nearby bush.

When she was done, Sakura came out---and found herself standing right behind a girl. The girl was wandering along the path, apparently oblivious to all that was going on around her, and carrying on a conversation with someone or other that Sakura couldn't see. After a minute, Sakura recognized her---it was Mizuho Inada.

Mizuho seemed to have gone insane; her conversation made absolutely no sense to Sakura. She was babbling about some set of gods that Sakura had never heard of, and acting as though she were on drugs. Kazuhiko appeared, coming from around a tree.

"Oh---hello, Mizuho!" From behind Mizuho, Sakura could see Kazuhiko's surprise. "I didn't expect to see you!"

"Nor did I expect to see you, Kazuhiko," Mizuho answered. "Have you been granted a vision of the Revelation? I have!"

"What revelation is this?"

"I am the Daughter of Destiny! I am Princess Prexia Dikianne Mizuho, the last survivor of the warrior tribe of the Dikianne! The gods have chosen me for a special quest!" She reached into her bag and produced a huge silvery-colored automatic pistol, waving it around in a way that froze Sakura's blood. _The damn fool---she's got her finger on the trigger!_

As quickly as she could, Sakura stepped to one side, drawing her own pistol. Once Kazuhiko was out of her line of fire, she leveled the weapon, pulling the trigger. The gun bucked and roared in her hand, and Mizuho's head exploded as the hollow-point bullet burst through her brain. For a second, she remained on her feet, fountaining blood, before collapsing bonelessly, the pistol dropping from her hand.

"Thanks, Sakura," said Kazuhiko, kneeling to take the pistol and pull Mizuho's bag away, so that they could take her food and water. "She's probably not the only crazy we're going to meet, but I hope we don't meet too many."

Sakura put her pistol back where she carried it. "I know what you mean. They're unpredictable."


	4. Chapter 4

Folie a Deux, Chapter Four---The Third Man

by Technomad

After dividing up Mizuho's belongings (Kazuhiko took the big silvery Auto-Mag, since it was too much pistol for Sakura to handle), Kaz and Sakura headed roughly southeast. Although things were quiet, they took no chances, moving as stealthily as they could.

Kaz' mind was buzzing with plans. He knew that, sooner or later, they would get into a real firefight. So far, they'd been lucky, and only dealt with people they could take down without a fight; their sterling reputations had helped keep their victims off-guard. However, that could not last. The game was going on, and people who weren't serious about it were going down.

As if reminding them of the situation, a crackle from the loudspeakers signalled that the noon "Homeroom" was about to start. At Kaz' signal, they both stopped, slipping into the bushes to be out of sight of others and be able to concentrate on Kamon's words.

"Well, it's noon, little warriors, and you're still doing quite well! Since our last update, we've had several deaths---mainly young ladies. Girl #1, Mizuho Inada. Girl #6, Yukiko Kitano. Girl #7, Yumiko Kusaka. And Girl #21, sweet Yoshimi Yahagi. On the male side of things, the losses have been Boy #16, Kazushi Niida, and Boy #21, Yoji Kuramoto. You're doing just fine---keep it up!

"Now, on to restricted areas." A pause, then: "Oh, dear, it looks like there _are_ no new restricted areas at this time! I know how disappointed you must be!" A chuckle. "Keep on the way you're going, and don't forget to wait for the next announcement from---Command Central!" The loudspeakers clicked as they were turned off.

Kazuhiko was going over his copy of the class list. "I wonder who took down Kiriyama's gang? It's odd that neither Kiriyama nor Tsukioka are dead, but the rest of them are. Do you think they ran into something they couldn't handle?"

Sakura thought about it. Kazuhiko waited for her opinion; he knew that as a girl, Sakura could often see through guys in a way that he couldn't, and with her ability to tap the girl gossip network, she had access to information that he didn't.

After a minute, she said: "My own guess is that Kiriyama himself took them out. We've heard a submachinegun going off in the distance a few times, and he may just have it. If he's got it---either by being issued it or taking it off someone who didn't have the will to use it---he's probably the single most dangerous person on this island. However, that begs the question of why, if he did decide to take his own followers out, he'd spare Tsukioka."

"Tsukioka's got a crush on him---just like he does on half the guys in our class. That doesn't mean that Kiriyama reciprocates it." The new voice, coming from a little way away, startled both Kaz and Sakura, and they whirled, drawing their pistols.

Standing just beside a nearby tree, with a sardonic grin on his face, was Shinji Mimura, the star basketball player in their class. Behind him---_surprise, surprise_---was his sidekick, Yutaka Sato. Shinji had a pistol, but he wasn't pointing it. Yutaka wasn't showing a weapon, but that meant nothing.

Kaz signalled: _Don't start anything_. Sakura nodded, understanding. She let Kaz take the lead. Luckily, Shinji didn't seem to be too interested in shooting them, although he did have the drop on them. "I take it you aren't playing?"

"Playing? Us? You've got to be kidding!" Kaz' voice rang with sincerity, just as it always did when he was lying through his teeth. "No, we're just nervous. I think we've got a right to be, don't you?"

"Anybody with sense would be nervous." Shinji seemed to be taking them at face value. He'd never heard of them doing anything the least bit wrong, and he would probably not have believed it of them even if they'd confessed.

"You sure seem to have a lot of stuff. Where'd you get it?" That was Yutaka. Kaz suppressed the urge to snarl. The little wretch was quite a bit too observant, Kaz figured it was from all the times that he'd been targeted by bullies. By now, keeping a sharp eye on all that surrounded him would be second nature for Yutaka, if only to make sure that the sort of people who targeted little fellows like him couldn't see him before he saw them and was able to take evasive action.

"Some people killed themselves---they didn't want to play. We found this stuff by their bodies." Sakura, clever Sakura, had probably been mulling what to say when asked that question for some time, and she popped out with the answer before Kaz could even begin to formulate an answer that would satisfy Yutaka---and, more importantly, Shinji.

The basketball star clearly didn't quite believe Sakura's story. "That sounds mighty convenient. Guess you two lucked out, didn't you?" Kaz noticed that he slipped his finger into the trigger guard, and lowered his hand to the butt of his own pistol. He signalled Sakura: _Caution. Danger may be ahead_. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sakura nod slightly, unobtrusively reaching for where he knew she had her own gun hidden.

Although Shinji was suspicious, he didn't have any clear proof that they were playing, and they outnumbered him---Kaz didn't think that little Yutaka would be a real factor if it came to a firefight. Oh, he had heart---and loyalty to Shinji, who had always treated him well---but he was no fighter. Between his small size, and his apparent lack of a real weapon, Kaz didn't think he'd be a threat.

Shinji pointed on up the path. "We're going that way. I have an idea that I want to try out. You two---" he pointed down the other way---"maybe should go that way. I'd just as soon avoid any---misunderstandings." He looked at them, his expression grimmer than Kaz had ever seen on him. "Got me?"

"Loud and clear, Shinji. Come on, Sakura. Let's see what's off in this direction, okay?" Kaz took Sakura's hand, and went down the path Shinji had indicated. He could feel their classmate's watchful eyes on them until the foliage hid them from his view.

"What do you think, Kaz?" whispered Sakura, her lips close to Kaz' ear. "Do you think he was on to us?"

After checking to see that they were unobserved, Kaz sat down on a log, and patted it to invite Sakura to sit beside him. In a low voice, he answered: "I think, at the least, he suspects. Thanks, by the way, for coming up with an explanation of where we got our extra supplies. I hadn't thought of it, but that was the sort of thing to make people suspicious of us."

"I know. That was why I thought of a story as soon as we started acquiring more stuff. I remember how often we've been able to skate away from trouble back in Shiroiwa just because we had a plausible explanation for the things we had."

"True enough." Kaz' and Sakura's parents thought that their children's income came from activities like tutoring younger children who were having trouble with their schoolwork. Just showing up with things that they couldn't afford to buy with their meager allowances would have started people's tongues wagging, so Sakura had come up with a story that explained just where the money they had came from.

"I'm just as glad we didn't get into a firefight. I'd rather keep our cover for as long as possible; it makes luring people in a lot easier. As long as we avoid Shinji, we should be okay," Kaz murmured.

"I didn't like the idea of a firefight, either," Sakura answered. "Shinji's good at a lot of things, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knows how to use that pistol he has. Even at two-to-one odds, at that range he'd have had a hard time missing. I might lose you, and I really don't want to do that."

"Just like I don't want to lose you. Come on. Shinji doesn't want us around, but he's just one guy---well, two, if you count Yutaka."

"Or one-and-a-half." giggled Sakura. "You're right---we can avoid him, and the rest of the island's open to us. I don't want to just sit here. Let's go see what or who else we can find."

The two of them headed down the path, and as they turned a corner, they found themselves faced with Yuka Nakagawa and Satomi Noda.


	5. Chapter 5

Folie a Deux, Chapter 05

by Technomad

Yuka and Satomi both gasped in shock when they saw who they were facing. "Kazuhiko! Sakura! It's so good to see you!" they babbled. Guilelessly, they smiled, and Kazuhiko found himself smiling back. Yuka had always been the class clown, and nearly everybody liked her. Satomi was more reserved, but she had always been willing to help anybody who needed help. Sakura often joked that Satomi was frigid, but it was Kazuhiko's considered opinion that next to Sakura, almost anybody would seem frigid.

He considered them carefully as they chattered on, telling every bit of their adventures. "We teamed up early on, and we're trying to put together a team of people. You'd be perfect for it!"

"Do you have any sort of a plan?" Sakura took the lead; ever since she and Kazuhiko had teamed up, long before the Program, they had agreed to let her take the lead dealing with women. Women would trust another woman before they would a man, and would let their guards down more easily---more fools they. Several women's final mistake had been trusting Sakura.

"This map shows a lighthouse up over here, see? Right now, it's not off-limits, so we thought holing up there would be a good idea. We were hoping to link up with Yukie and Haruka, but someone got them before we could find them."

Sakura looked appropriately solemn; nobody seeing her would guess that she knew anything more about the girls' deaths than having heard the announcements. Being able to control their reactions had served her and Kazuhiko remarkably well. More than once, they had been able to deflect suspicion just by behaving as though they were completely innocent.

"We know. We heard. Would you like to team up with us?" Sakura asked. Kazuhiko nodded approval. He had noticed what they were carrying. Satomi's issue weapon was an Uzi submachine gun, and he lusted for it. Firepower was a huge edge in the Program, and while he and Sakura were well-found for weapons, the Uzi's sheer rate of fire could easily make the difference, if it came down to a firefight---and Kazuhiko figured that it would.

Sooner or later, the act would fall through. Sooner or later, they would stand revealed as active players, and at that moment, everybody else's hand would be turned against them. Friendly meetings like this would be out of the question; instead, the rule would be "shoot on sight and shoot to kill." In that sort of situation, being able to lay down a rapid-fire spray of bullets would be a huge advantage.

Oblivious to the wheels turning in Kaz' mind, Satomi and Yuka babbled on. "Guess that's it---we're now a team!" beamed Yuka. She hugged Sakura, visibly startling her before Sakura hugged her back. "Got the Yuka seal of approval!" She winked roguishly. "Of course, I know that I can't dream of coming between you, but having a good-looking guy around's always a bonus, isn't it, Sakura?" She turned to Satomi for a second, and Kaz smiled inwardly at the way Sakura's eyebrow lifted slightly. He knew her---none better---and although nobody else would have seen anything amiss, Kaz knew that Yuka had just signed her own death warrant. Nobody, but _nobody_, came between Sakura and Kazuhiko, as far as Sakura was concerned!

When the other girls turned, to go down the path to the lighthouse, Kaz caught Sakura's eye. He gave her a signal that meant _Wait your time---not now._ Sakura nodded and walked off after them, with Kazuhiko taking up the rear.

Once the girls were a little ways ahead, Sakura came closer to Kazuhiko. In a low murmur, she asked: "When are we going to make our move?"

"There are other players out there, Sakura," Kazuhiko murmured. "Way I see it is that if those two think we're on their side, we've got four guns, instead of just two, with us---and that bumps up our chances. They trust us. Who am I to disappoint them---so soon?"

Sakura nodded, accepting his line of reasoning. While they were both co-equal partners, Kazuhiko was usually the planner of their capers. He had a mind that worked as dispassionately, on most things, as a computer, and he could come up with plans in seconds. Sakura was good, but they both acknowledged that he was better.

Besides, there were other players out there, and if it came to a firefight, even without Satomi's submachinegun, four guns would almost certainly beat one. Teams, in the Program, were of necessity short-lived---as Satomi and Yuka would find out, the second he or Sakura decided they were no longer useful.

There was a trail leading toward the part of the island where the lighthouse was situated, and they turned to head down it. Yuka, Luger in hand, took point, with Satomi a little way behind her, the Uzi slung, cocked and ready to fire. Kaz followed Satomi, with Sakura taking up the rear.

After a little way, they paused for a second at Yuka's signal. "What's up?" murmured Sakura. She peered around at the surrounding bush suspiciously. "Is there someone out there?"

"I don't know," Yuka muttered. "It just---I don't know, but something just doesn't feel right. I don't like being out on this trail; it feels like something's watching us, just waiting its chance."

Kaz thought about it, and decided that Yuka was on to something. While Yuka had always been a bit of a clown, nobody had ever said she wasn't sharp---and Kazuhiko also felt like there was danger close by. He had learned, in his criminal career, not to ignore those feelings. He had talked about it with Sakura, and they had decided that feelings like that were often caused by the subconscious picking up on clues that hadn't impinged on their conscious minds. More than once, they had avoided what would have been inevitable arrest and ruin, just by sensing something wrong and aborting a planned caper just in time.

"Get off the trail!" At Satomi's command, all four of them slipped off the trail into the surrounding bush. Kaz and Sakura found a good hiding place, behind a fallen log, where they could see the trail without being seen, and had some shelter if bullets started flying. They couldn't see Satomi or Yuka, and Kaz nodded approvingly. The two girls apparently had more talent for this than Kaz would have thought possible before the Program.

For a few minutes, nothing happened, but the sense of impending danger became stronger and stronger, and Kaz fought the temptation to do something---anything! Holding very, very still took all the willpower he had at his command, and he could feel Sakura quivering beside him. Whatever it was was affecting her, too, it seemed.

Watching the trail, he saw something moving, and his eyes widened as he recognized who it was. Pacing along with the grace of a stalking cat, Kazuo Kiriyama came into view. The boy's coat was hanging off his shoulders like a cape, and he was holding...could it be? Kaz involuntarily licked his lips as he saw what was in the hoodlum leader's hand.

A MAC-10! Combined with Kazuo Kiriyama's all-around competence, that weapon probably made him the single most dangerous person on the island. Was Kiriyama playing?

Kazuhiko would have been more than willing to let the hoodlum leader go his way unmolested. He had seen Kiriyama in action on several occasions, and while Kaz was good, he would freely admit that Kiriyama was in a class all by himself. More than once, he had noticed Kiriyama calmly dealing with things that Kaz would have avoided if there were any way to do so---things like "Jaguar," their former, bullying phys-ed teacher.

Jaguar had used his talents as a former Olympic-level judoka to bully his students. He had taken particular pleasure in pushing Hiroki Sugimura around---Sugimura was a high-ranking kempo artist, but wouldn't take advantage of the differences between their disciplines to hurt their teacher, even when clearly provoked.

After he had, in his turn, been humiliated---Shinji Mimura had grappled with him and ripped the drawstring off his pants, revealing that he wore a jaguar-spotted jockstrap---Jaguar had been out for revenge. He had spotted Kazuo Kiriyama, in the back of the crowd, reading a book on judo, and had challenged him. That had been his last mistake. Kiriyama had an uncanny ability to absorb just what he needed from anything he read, and he combined that talent with inhuman ruthlessness.

He had deliberately gouged Jaguar's eye out of the socket, and crushed it.

Unsurprisingly, that had been the end of Jaguar's teaching career. There had been an almighty hullaballoo, of course, but Kazuo Kiriyama's family was wealthy and influential, and had been able to show that Jaguar had abused his skills both in and out of the classroom. In the end, Jaguar was gone and Kiriyama was still there in the school.

_Go on, go on past, there's nothing here to see, go on, go on, go on..._ Kaz sent the mental signal as hard as he could, hoping against hope that Kiriyama would just go his way and leave them to go theirs. Unfortunately, the world was what it was, and Kiriyama was what he was.

Dispassionate as a robot, and as merciless, Kiriyama turned and sprayed down the other side of the path, where Satomi and Yuka were hiding. A loud shriek told Kaz that he had hit at least one of the girls. They had hidden, but apparently hadn't found cover from gunfire.

His choice of targets gave Kaz an opportunity, though. He had turned his back to the side of the trail where he and Sakura were hiding, and Kaz came up with his pistol at the ready. Before even Kiriyama could turn and respond, Kaz put five rounds rapid into his back, and the hoodlum leader went down bonelessly.

Wary as a wild animal, Kaz came forward, his pistol covering Kiriyama. When he was close, he put two rounds straight into the back of Kiriyama's head, splattering his brains all over the forest floor. Behind him, Sakura was on watch, covering the forest in case Kiriyama had had companions, although privately Kaz was fairly sure that Kiriyama had been playing a lone hand. The deaths of Kiriyama's former hoodlum comrades had almost certainly been at his own hand, and Kaz could appreciate the merciless logic of it.

Yuka called: "Thanks, Kaz! Could you help me here? He winged Satomi, but she's still alive."

"I'll see to her, okay, Kaz?" Sakura slipped off into the bush, after getting a signal from Kaz, _play it straight for now_. There'd be time later to finish the girls off, and they would be useful, if only to convince people that Kaz and Sakura weren't actually playing. Kaz claimed Kiriyama's MAC-10, and searched the boy's bags, finding several pistols and a good supply of ammunition, which he also appropriated.

As he joined the girls, Satomi looked up with gratitude in her eyes. "Thanks! I think you saved my life! How can we ever repay you?" Kaz had to look elsewhere to hide the smile that crept across his face. _If you only knew, Satomi_...Then he saw something moving, and snapped back to full awareness. Someone else was out there---someone who was very good at not letting himself or herself be seen.

As they got ready to finish the trip to the lighthouse, Kaz looked around. The forest seemed peaceful, but he knew that the peaceful facade was deceptive. They moved on down the trail, with Yuka helping Satomi along---she'd been hit in the leg, but hadn't had a bone broken or any major arteries hit, so she was still able to move.

Kaz shivered involuntarily. _Who is out there, and what are they planning now? _


	6. Chapter 6

Folie a Deux, Chapter 06

The Lighthouse

by Technomad

_(Author's note: Okay, I can hear you screaming from here. Look---Kazuo Kiriyama's long rampage in the original version(s) was dependent on raw good luck as much as anything else. He's good, but a big part of his success was being willing to be utterly ruthless, and accepting early on that the only way off the island was to play and win. In this story, he just ran out of luck sooner than he did in the original.)_

After a while, the foursome came out of the woods, and saw the lighthouse ahead. It stood on a headland overlooking the Seto Inland Sea, and Kazuhiko could see a patrol boat far off on the water, guarding Okishima so that nobody could escape. It reminded him of the police---smug, sure, assured that nobody would dare defy them, and easily gotten around. His mind was already buzzing with schemes to get off the island, and as soon as the perennial problems of the collars and their fellow students had been dealt with to his satisfaction, he planned to bounce them off Sakura. Clever Sakura was often able to suggest improvements in his plans.

However, that would have to wait. It was still broad daylight, and if they swam for it, the patrol boats would likely spot them, even if they'd disabled or removed the collars. They also still had to deal with their classmates. With a mental sigh, Kaz went back to playing the game he'd played for so long---"good boy with a nice girlfriend."

At least Yuka had the common sense to sneak ahead and scout out the lighthouse. Kaz nodded approvingly as she motioned for the others to stay put, while she crept on toward the building, making a clear effort to be as quiet as she could. While she wasn't in Kaz' or Sakura's league, she did have some talent in that direction. _If she'd been less of a Good Girl, and less of an attention-seeker, she could have been a useful recruit_, he thought. Kaz was normally quite content to have Sakura as his only ally, but there had been times when another pair of eyes, or pair of hands, would have been a welcome addition.

Ah, well---the world was what it was. Up ahead, Yuka was trying the door, and when she found that it was locked from the outside, and the windows were locked from the inside and not broken, she turned and signalled them that it was all clear. When Kaz got up to the door, with Sakura beside him holding up Satomi, Yuka was fiddling with the lock to try to open the door.

"Get out of the way, Yuka." When Yuka obeyed, Kaz raised his foot and kicked the door in with one swift move. Yuka and Satomi both stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Well? Let's get inside and have a look at that leg." Sakura broke the silence after a second or two. "Why are you two so surprised? A guy's a lot stronger than we are---it makes sense that he could do that." The fact that this was far from the first door Kazuhiko had kicked down was one she carefully kept silent about.

Once they were inside, they lay Satomi down on one of several couches, and Yuka bent over her friend, clucking about her wound. "Damn, you're lucky! You could have had a fracture or something like that! Thank Buddha that Kazuhiko was nearby!"

Behind her back, Kaz and Sakura exchanged significant glances. _If you only knew_…

Sakura and Kazuhiko scouted around, wordlessly falling into the pattern they used when casing a place they'd broken into. After all, they _had_ broken into the lighthouse, hadn't they? They found a couple of bedrooms, a large kitchen, and a spiral staircase leading up to the top of the lighthouse, about six stories or so off the ground level.

"There's some food here," said Yuka. "And they've got bottled gas to cook with. What say I rustle us all up something better to eat than this crappy bread they gave us? Some stew or something like that would get the Yuka seal of approval!"

Satomi nodded wearily; once she had had a chance to lie down, Kaz could see how badly she'd been hurt. She still had the Uzi by her side, but he didn't think that she'd be a threat when he and Sakura decided it was time to make a move. "Stew sounds nice. I'm about to cave in."

Kaz was surprised at how hungry he was, and how appealing something---anything beside the issue bread and water---sounded. He nodded eagerly. "You go ahead and do that. Me and Sakura, we're going to go up on top of the tower and keep a watch out. There are people out there playing, and I'd just as soon not let them sneak up on us if we can help it."

"Good idea!" Yuka gave them a beaming smile. "Got the Yuka seal of approval on that one! Uh, Satomi---would you mind loaning them that Uzi? Right now, you can't really use it, and if players come, they'll need all the firepower they can get."

Kaz couldn't believe how easy this was. His reputation was working for him yet again. Satomi nodded again, and held out the submachinegun. "Got extra magazines of ammo in my bag. Help yourselves."

Kaz could have hugged himself with glee. As it was, he stayed grave and solemn while he took the gun, and led Sakura out and up the stairs to the ledge at the top of the lighthouse. Once they were there, he could relax; the view was quite good, and the area around the lighthouse was clear enough that nobody could sneak up without him or Sakura seeing them.

Sakura leaned close. "Don't talk too loudly, darling. That lighthouse interior carries sound real, real well."

Kaz cocked his head, listening. Sure enough, he could hear what was going on six stories below quite clearly. Yuka was chattering up a storm as usual, telling Satomi every detail of what she was making. He winked at Sakura. He had thought they could speak freely up there, but it looked like they'd have to be careful. Accordingly, they moved around to the other side of the tower, facing out over the island and away from the ocean. That was the side from which danger was likelier to come, anyway, although he did position them so that they could see the ocean side as well.

"When do you think we should move?" murmured Sakura.

"Not sure. If Satomi wasn't hurt, I'd be in favor of leaving things as they are for as long as we could, since four guns would be far better than two. As it stands, though, Satomi's a liability and Yuka won't leave her. Do you think we could just sneak off?"

"Doubtful." Sakura frowned. "Yuka's not as silly as she likes to pretend she is, and Satomi's as sharp as a razor. If they start thinking we're playing a double game, they're likely to start shooting at us, and I'd prefer to hold off on full-out firefights as much as we can. The point of the operation is to get off the island, not to show off how tough we are."

"True." Kazuhiko was watching off to one side, and he saw something moving. Wordlessly, he pointed, and Sakura peered along his arm. There was someone coming---it looked like a girl. Whoever it was, she was stumbling along, not making any particular attempt to conceal herself_. Is she hurt, or off her rocker, or what?_ Making up his mind, Kazuhiko leaned into the lighthouse tower and let out a piercing whistle.

"_Yuka!_ There's someone outside---looks like a girl! She's off to the southeast of us, heading toward the lighthouse!"

A short while later, they could see the door opening at the bottom of the lighthouse building, and Yuka was hurrying out to see who it could be. When she came close, she ran up and hugged the strange girl, and gently led her on into the lighthouse.

A few minutes later, Yuka's voice came echoing up the shaft of the lighthouse tower. "Kazuhiko! Sakura! You'll never guess who it is!" A short pause, then: "It's Yuko Sakaki!"

Kaz and Sakura exchanged slightly surprised looks. "I'd have bet long odds she'd have fallen victim before this," murmured Sakura.

Kaz nodded. Of all their classmates, he considered Yuko Sakaki to be one of the most vulnerable, along with the late Megumi Eto. She had always been mentally unstable, and grew horribly upset at anything violent or scary. If he'd been asked about her before this, he'd have said that Yuko would be curled up somewhere in a catatonic trance, unless she'd already been caught in a danger zone and snuffed out by her own explosive collar.

"I'll come down and say hello, dear!" called Sakura. "Kaz can stay up here on guard!" Winking at Kaz, she headed for the door and down the stairs to the main level, as Kaz went back to watching for anybody approaching.


	7. Chapter 7

Folie a Deux, Chapter 7

The New Arrival

By Technomad

Sakura came into the main room of the lighthouse to find the other girls fluttering around Yuko. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of her classmate. Yuko Sakaki looked like she'd been through the wars. She had a thousand-yard stare, she trembled occasionally, and she didn't seem to be responding to Yuka and Satomi's attempts to talk to her.

Sakura picked up the bag that Yuko had dropped, and put it on a table. This gave her an opportunity to discreetly search through it to see what Yuko had been issued with. She found a telescoping spring baton, and a small bottle. Holding the bottle up, her eyes widened as she read the label_. Potassium cyanide? Great Buddha, how is __this__ supposed to be used in the Program?_ Since the others' attention had been distracted, she pocketed the bottle. The thought of someone like Yuko Sakaki wandering around with something like that gave her the shivers.

Sakura had never been close to Yuko. Yuko had always struck Sakura as one of life's predestined victims. She was unstable, and became very upset by anything having to do with violence. If she'd had anything that Sakura or Kazuhiko wanted, they would have probably taken her out themselves long before their class was selected for the Program. As it was, though, she had almost no pocket money or possessions that appealed to either Sakura or Kazuhiko, so they had left her alone.

After a little while, Yuka went back to her cooking. Sakura smelled the stew, and her stomach rumbled. She and Kaz were well-found for supplies thanks to their dead classmates, but she was more than ready for a change from the bread they'd been issued. Yuka looked up and saw her expression. "When I'm done with this, Sakura, I'll call you and you can come get some of this. You can bring a share up to your boyfriend."

At the mention of Kaz, Yuko looked up, her eyes full of fear. "A _boy? Here?_ Is he the demon boy?"

"Demon boy?" Sakura was puzzled. Could Yuko Sakaki, of all people, have twigged to the double lives she and Kaz were leading? She thought frantically. Yuko's home, as far as Sakura knew, was in one of Shiroiwa's nicer neighborhoods, and nowhere near any of their exploits. "What do you mean, Yuko? Who or what is the 'demon boy?'"

Yuko's eyes were huge with fear as she looked up at Sakura, but Sakura didn't think it was fear of her. "The demon boy! I saw him! He killed Tatsumichi!" Yuko shuddered. "I saw him---I was hiding nearby, and he and Tatsumichi were fighting. He split poor Tatsumichi's _face_ with a _machete_!" She shuddered, and retched; luckily, her stomach was almost empty. Yuka tossed Sakura a towel. With a sigh, Sakura squatted down and cleaned the mess up. She was used to playing her role, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Yuko, the only boy here is Kazuhiko. You know Kazuhiko, don't you?" At Yuko's slow nod, Sakura went on, in kindly tones that masked her exasperation, "I've been with him since we hit this island, and for a long while before. He's no more a demon than _I_ am---" _how true those words are, Yuko and the others have no need to know---_"and I give you my word, Kazuhiko Yamamoto's never split a boy's face with a machete in his entire _life_!" Inside, Sakura felt like smirking. She loved telling the truth in a way that misled people.

Yuko looked marginally comforted. "No---the boy I saw wasn't Kazuhiko. Kazuhiko's _nice_!" She gave Sakura a tentative smile. "The demon boy is Shuya Nanahara!"

At this, the other girls' eyes went very wide. "Shuya Nanahara? How---why?" gasped Satomi. "I'd never have believed it of him, not in a million years!"

"Satomi, don't be any more naïve than you can help," Sakura explained, in tones suitable for speaking to someone who wasn't too bright. "This. Is. The. _Program_. People do things here that they'd never have thought of doing elsewhere." _Like committing suicide_, Sakura thought. Before finding herself trapped in the Program, she would no more have considered suicide than she would have walked into a police station and confessed her crimes. When she'd been sitting on that cliffside, though, she had thought that she and Kazuhiko killing themselves might be preferable to going through with the Program, even if only to spite the authorities.

"Yes, but---Shuya?" Yuka was listening in from over by the stove, where she was watching the stew. "Shuya's so nice! All the girls like him---don't they, Sakura? Or maybe I shouldn't ask that! Everybody knows that there's only one guy for you!" Yuka gave Sakura a lewd wink. "Sometime you'll have to tell me how he is in bed!"

_Better than __you__ deserve, you clown_, was Sakura's thought. Yuka liked to talk about how many guys she could go through, but in Sakura's considered opinion, a lot of it was just talk, intended to titillate and shock the other girls. Sakura was a keen observer of people around her, and Yuka did not strike her as being likely to take the "girl-most-likely-to" title away from Mitsuko Souma any time soon.

Since the other girls were buzzing over the news that Shuya was apparently playing, Sakura allowed herself a brief reverie. She was quite sure that Mitsuko was playing, and probably doing very well. Several times, she had thought about revealing some of what she was doing to Mitsuko and asking her if she'd like joining forces with her and Kazuhiko, but had always decided against it.

Mitsuko Souma was out for one person and one person alone, and that person was Mitsuko Souma. She had those two idiots who followed her around, but Sakura was sure that she'd cheerfully throw either or both of them under the bus if it would get Mitsuko's sweet ass out of a jam, or put money into her pocket. Sakura had sometimes wondered whether detaching Hirono Shimizu from Mitsuko and attaching her to herself and Kazuhiko; there had been times when a third pair of eyes or hands would have been useful, and she knew from what she'd picked up "on the street" that Hirono had been involved in low-level prostitution, as well as girl-style thuggery under Mitsuko's leadership. Unfortunately, she had never really seen a chance to recruit Hirono; the girl seemed to be glued to Mitsuko's side. Of course, that could have been smart of Mitsuko—Hirono had enough on the ball on her own to be able to function without sweet Mitsuko doing all the thinking and taking the lion's share of the proceeds. And without Hirono, Mitsuko'd be reduced to leading Yoshimi Yahagi. The other girls in their school knew what she was like and avoided her as much as they could.

Putting aside speculations about "what could have been," Sakura excused herself to take a couple of bowls of stew. Yuka's cooking smelled wonderful, and she dug in eagerly.

"Why did you take two bowls?" asked Yuko.

"Because poor Kazuhiko's up on the tower, keeping watch. He and Sakura told us that you were outside," explained Yuka. "He needs to eat, too." Behind Yuko's back, Yuka caught Sakura's eye, rolled her eyes, and tapped her forehead significantly. Sakura nodded in complete agreement.

"Oh." Quiet as a little mouse, Yuko bent her head and mumbled something over her bowl of stew, before tucking into it. She looked up, to see the other girls looking at her. "I always say Grace over my meals. Our family are all religious."

"You are?" Sakura took a second to digest that news. Like most Japanese people, she had little if anything to do with religion, other than at the usual holidays, or if someone died. She knew that some people took it more seriously, but she had a hard time relating to the concept. Of course, Yuko Sakaki had always been a strange sort of girl. Could being from a religious family have caused that, or exacerbated it?

Once she had finished her prayer, Yuko finished her stew quickly, all but licking the bowl. Reminded that she and Kaz were hungry, Sakura quietly left. The other girls were busy eating, and did not seem to notice that she had gone.

At the top of the tower, she found Kaz half-dozing in the bright sunshine. She cleared her throat, and he snapped to. "Hi, Kaz. I brought us some stew Yuka made. Yuko's in a pretty bad way, but I'm surprised she managed to make it this far. She's making even less sense than she usually does."

"That would be difficult," commented Kaz, as he took the stew. "Frankly, the smart thing to do would be to shoot her and dump her body, if only because she almost certainly can't contribute to the group. Of course, I know Satomi and Yuka, and they'd never do that, would they?"

Sakura busily spooned in stew for a few minutes, varying it with some of the bread she was carrying, and washing it down with bottled water. "No, they wouldn't. And as long as they're around, we can't do that. I wonder what would be the best move to make? Maybe we should volunteer to be on guard tonight, and just sort of fade into the woods. I have a feeling that this place isn't as safe as everybody else with us thinks it is."

"You've got a good point. I don't know how they pick danger zones, but if I were running this game, I'd rig the selection so that this place would be off-limits pretty quickly. It's just too tempting, like the village area was. You may notice that that's off-limits now, and I doubt it's entirely by accident."

"Splitting as soon as the others go to sleep works for me, Kaz." Sakura stood up to throw away her empty water bottle, and spotted a girl walking toward the lighthouse_. Oh, bugger! We forgot to keep watch_! "Hey, down there!" she yelled down the stairs. "There's someone coming! A girl!" She gave Kaz a quick kiss. "I'll go see who it is, all right?" Kaz nodded and went back to watching out, mostly keeping an eye out over the side of the lighthouse that faced the island, since that was where people were likeliest to appear.

Sakura flitted down the stairs, very quietly. For some reason, she didn't want to remind anybody that she was there—she had long since learned to trust her instincts. She was very, very glad she'd been very quiet when she got to the foot of the tower. She felt an icy chill down the back of her neck as she listened to what was going on in the main room.

She knew that voice. She had heard it every day of her life since she'd started school. Mitsuko Souma had shown up, and the other girls were welcoming her in!

END Chapter 07


	8. Chapter 8

Folie a Deux, Chapter 8

Against Their Own Kind

By Technomad

Kazhiko was startled when Sakura came running up the stairs and out onto the observation platform; she'd taken good care to be very quiet. She'd slipped off her loafers to go up and down the stairs, out of long habit. Her years as a sneak-thief and burglar, before and after she had met Kazhiko, had made her very good at being unheard when she wanted to be.

"Sakura! What's up?" Kaz looked at her closely. "You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

"Worse, if anything. Guess just who's joined the happy little group downstairs?" When Kaz indicated that he couldn't guess, she gave him an exasperated look. "Oh, right, you don't _like_ guessing games, do you? Well…the newest recruit is none other than everybody's favorite girl hoodlum, Mitsuko 'Hardcore' Souma!"

As she'd known it would, that got his attention instantly. "Sweet Mitsu's joined the other girls downstairs?" Sakura nodded grimly. "I wonder whether it'd be better to let her know we're here, or hope that the girls don't remember to mention us. Do you think she saw us up here?"

Sakura considered it. "Unknown. We were up against the side of the lighthouse, not out at the edge of the platform, so she might not have spotted us. On the other hand, she's no fool, and she has to be reasonably sharp to have survived on the streets for as long as she has."

"So what's your recommendation?" Kazuhiko looked out over the island; there was no sign of anybody moving around, but he knew that people were there. Off in the distance, he could see the mainland of Honshu, and there were ships and boats plying the sunlit blue waters of the Inland Sea. A patrol boat moved past, a reminder that they weren't there for their own pleasure.

Sakura gave it careful thought. Although they had never formally spelled it out, she was the arbiter in all their dealings with women. Kazuhiko deferred to her judgement in such matters, and she had never yet led them astray. Kaz had said more than once that having a way to tap information that he, as a guy, couldn't get at had been a lifesaver more than once.

"I say we lay low up here for a while. Sweet Mitsu might just go her way without doing anything; she's badly outnumbered and the girls downstairs do have some guns. If we can wave her 'sayonara' without any trouble, I'll be perfectly content."

"Good thinking. I think we've better things to do than get into gunfights with everybody and his brother. It's like our—other activities." Kaz grinned wickedly. "Kiriyama and his goon squad _like _getting into fights, just to show off how _tough_ they are. Tough's nice, but it's _yen in the pockets_ that counts in the end, and you don't get that brawling with all-comers just for the fun of brawling."

Having come to a conclusion about what they were going to do, Sakura dismissed Mitsuko from her mind. Leaning back and staring out over the island, she strained her hearing, wondering when she'd next hear shots fired.

"I can't believe Shuya's playing," Kaz commented idly. "He was always so idealistic; I'd have thought he'd resist the Program to his dying breath."

"Darling," Sakura said, "that assumes that Yuko's telling the truth, or remembering what she saw correctly. And, in my considered opinion, Yuko Sakaki's a complete loon." She thought for a few minutes, then went on: "That said, it's not impossible that he might have changed his mind for some reason, or had it changed for him. The Program's known for that sort of thing, after all."

"If we run into Shuya, we'll have to be careful. But then, except for each other, that applies to everybody on this island at the moment, doesn't it?" Kaz shook his head. "Shuya Nanahara, playing the Game? I still can't quite believe it."

"Forget Shuya—at least for now. We've got other things to worry about, like sweet Mitsuko." Sakura summoned Kaz back to present reality. "Adding her to the mix downstairs changes the dynamic, and not in ways I like." She leaned back, gazing out over the ominously silent island, thinking hard. "Mitsuko's not as easy to fool as those others. She's street-smart, like us. She'll be harder to lie to, and might have ideas about eliminating us. If she's not actively playing, this would be the first time she ever had a chance to advance herself through hurting other people that she didn't take."

"And, unlike us, she's fairly blatant," mused Kaz. "I wonder how she'd get along with the girls downstairs?" He shook his head. "Those girls have never been close to, or fond of, sweet Mitsuko. From what you've said, they and Mitsuko's little clique are on opposite sides of nearly everything."

"True. At the same time, they aren't completely stupid, and they might twig to the benefits of having a survivor type around. That is, of course, if Mitsuko could be trusted not to turn on them the second she got the chance." Sakura began absently rooting around in her bag. She felt something unfamilar…and her eyes went very wide as she pulled a small bottle out. "I'd forgotten I had this!"

Kaz looked at the bottle. "Potassium _cyanide_? I've never heard of that being issued in the Program before!" He gave Sakura a grin. "Did you swipe this from somewhere, you naughty, naughty girl, you?"

Sakura giggled. "It was in Yuko Sakaki's bag. I got a chance at it, and, of course, took instant advantage. She was also issued with a spring-baton. The kind you see sold in the cheaper stores, down in the bad parts of town." She fluttered her eyelashes, mockingly imitating the "_Yamato Nadeshiko_"-"perfect flower of Japan" people thought she was. "The sorts of places you'd never see _us_."

"Yeah, I know the sort of thing you mean. Those things are sold to people who want protection, and don't have the stones to break the law and carry something illegal—something that might actually work. Like a knife. Or a gun." Kaz smiled. "I suppose they might do some good against a drunk _sarariiman_ who doesn't want to take 'no' for an answer, but I wouldn't want to have to depend on one against any sort of real opposition."

"Keep in mind, darling, that most people don't have our resources—or our willingness to do whatever we need to do. Where would your typical middle-class Shiroiwa housewife or husband even find someone selling guns? Not to mention, they _are_ beastly expensive…" Sakura laughed rather bitterly. "You know, if we could just salvage all the firepower that's currently on this island, and get it to people we know, we'd be set for life, wouldn't we?"

Kaz sighed. "Yeah, we would. Of course, that plan _does _have its little obstacles built into it, doesn't it?" He began ticking them off on his fingers. "First, collect all the guns. Second, get off the island. Third, evade pursuit. Fourth, never, ever get caught for the rest of our lives." His laugh was just as bitter as hers. "Other than that, it'd be a piece of cake!"

"Cake…cake…I've got it!" Sakura smiled exultantly. "You're a genius! Or I am!" She hugged Kaz hard. "I've figured out how to deal with those girls downstairs!" She flitted toward the stairs, leaving Kaz staring after her, clearly wondering what scheme she had in mind this time.

When she got downstairs, she walked on in as though she were as innocent as people thought she was. She widened her eyes theatrically to see Mitsuko Souma sitting there, big as life, talking quietly with Satomi Noda. "Oh! Hello, Mitsuko! I'm glad to see you're all right!"

Mitsuko raised one elegant, sculptured eyebrow. Sakura knew she wasn't bad-looking herself, but Mitsuko did look like an angel come down from the Christian heaven. "Hi, Sakura. Is Kaz up on the tower, still?" At Satomi's questioning look, Mitsuko condescended to explain: "Where one of those two is, the other's not far away. So since I did see someone up there when I came close to this lighthouse, and you're down here, that means that Kaz is almost certainly still up there." She smiled wickedly, and went on: "After all, if he were down here, Yuka here would be chasing him around the room!"

Sakura gave Mitsuko a sickly-feeling smile in return, and reminded herself that Mitsuko was probably one of the most dangerous people in their class, other than herself, Kazuhiko, and Kazuo Kiriyama. Her grades were poor, but that didn't make her unintelligent. "Yeah, you got it in one, Mitsuko. Kaz and I linked up right after we left that hell-school…" her scowl was perfectly genuine; nobody in their class had any reasons not to want that building burnt to the ground and sown with salt…"and we've been together since then." She managed to paste her smile back on. "But enough about me. How about you? Have you seen those pals of yours-Yoshimi and Hirono?"

Mitsuko looked very cagey for a moment, before her face went blank; Sakura didn't think that the others would have noticed it. "I saw Yoshimi. She's dead, and so is Yoji. I think the same person took them out. They were both shot."

_And __who__ did __that__, darling?_ Sakura studied her classmate more closely, noting the Colt Government Model that Mitsuko had tucked into one of her pockets. _Did you stumble across them, and decide to lower the odds of you surviving by reducing the numbers? Or are you innocent…for once? _ Of course, she couldn't ask that out loud.

Instead, she began to put the brilliant plan she had formulated into operation. Moving toward the kitchen, she asked brightly: "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry again. Would anybody object too strongly if I tried whipping us up something good?" She laughed the impish laugh that she knew disarmed suspicion; she'd used it once or twice to convince policemen that she couldn't be connected with whatever crime they were investigating, when she'd been seen in the vicinity. "I saw what's available, and, no offense, Yuka, but I have some interesting ideas about what I can do with what we have!"

"Sounds great!" Yuka gave Sakura such a guileless smile that Sakura almost felt ashamed of what she was planning. _Almost._ "You got the Yuka seal of approval, Sakura babe! I remember how good you were at Home Ec!"

The other girls nodded or signified approval, so Sakura went over to the cooking facilities, putting the pots and pans into order. Unobtrusively, she slipped the little bottle of hydrogen cyanide out of her skirt pocket, putting it into the pocket of her uniform shirt where she could reach it more easily while she cooked.

END Chapter 08


	9. Chapter 9

Folie a Deux, Chapter 09

Domestic Goddess

By Technomad

Sakura began putting together a meal, keeping up a soothing stream of chatter about nothing in particular. The other girls, even Mitsuko, didn't seem to find anything unusual or threatening about her volunteering to cook, which relaxed Sakura slightly. This would be much easier if the others didn't suspect anything…

So far, at least, nobody seemed to think anything was wrong. Chisato and Satomi began questioning Mitsuko about what she'd seen on her way to the lighthouse. "Who do you think is playing, Mitsuko? Did you have any close calls?"

Mitsuko leaned back, stretching slightly and smiling. "Well, I heard shooting, every now and then, but that's nothing I don't think you've heard. For the most part, I kept to cover. I spent the first night we were out here holed up down in the main village, before it went off-limits."

_And what did you __do__ there, dear? _Sakura and Kazuhiko had not even considered heading for the village, since it was such an obvious place to be, and had far too many places for a player to hide out and thin the herd of his or her classmates with relative impunity. Mitsuko was looking suspiciously self-satisfied; Sakura had noticed before that when little Miss "Hardcore" Souma had pulled off something particularly nasty, she tended to look like a cat that had eaten the canary.

If Mitsuko had run across some easy prey, she could be up on the scoreboard. Right at the moment, she was acting like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, and she seemed to be fooling the other girls. Sakura, unlike the others, was a criminal in her own right, and had long since learned to pick up on clues in people's behavior. Something that a normal person wouldn't notice might give her a tip about which person might be worth stalking and robbing, or which apartment or business might repay a midnight visit. And what she was picking up from Mitsuko was making her very nervous. Mitsuko had been carrying a _kama_-a hand sickle of traditional design-and Sakura had noticed what looked very like bloodstains on the wooden handle.

The vibes she got from Mitsuko were that Mitsuko was awaiting her opportunity to take out everybody in the lighthouse and take it over for herself. However-and Sakura smiled to herself as she bent over the stove-sweet Mitsuko didn't know just _what_ she was dealing with, did she?

The stew she had produced was simmering, filling the room with good smells. Even Yuko Sakaki was perking up; it could be that all she really needed was some food. The class hadn't been fed, other than on their issue bread, since before they'd gone on their ill-fated trip, and Yuka's contribution, welcome though it was, hadn't gone too far. They were all teenagers with healthy appetites, and the Program was famously strenuous. A source of food was often the difference between being taken down and survival.

Sakura rummaged around, and, to her delight, found some tea makings. "How would everybody like a nice cup of tea? I don't know about you, but I really, really am tired of this bottled water they gave us!" A chorus of assent greeted this idea, and Sakura put a kettle on to boil. She had found some cups, and put them out as well. One cup was slightly chipped, and she put it to one side.

When the stew was ready, Sakura dished it out into bowls, making sure to divide it all equally and taking a bowl for herself. Then she turned to the tea. She poured the hot water over the leaves, turning it into the national beverage…and adding a dollop of hydrogen cyanide to every cup save the one with the chip on it. Keeping the chipped cup for herself, she handed out the tea.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, as the girls tucked into their stew. Then Yuko stiffened, her eyes going wide as she tried, and failed, to stand up. She clutched at her throat, choking, and collapsed on the floor. The other girls stared at her in horror.

"Move back! I think she's having a heart attack! Give her air!" snapped Satomi, just as Yuka convulsed, arching her back and making a terrifying rattling noise in her throat. "Oh, merciful Buddha-did they poison the food they left behind?" Even now, she didn't suspect Sakura of wrongdoing or playing. In Sakura's mind, involuntary horror at what was happening warred with delight at how perfectly her plan seemed to be working.

Satomi limped over to Yuka's side, then fell over, grabbing at her throat, her body twisting involuntarily as the poison hit her. All three of the girls writhed in agony, unable to speak, before relaxing in death. Sakura watched them dying, then looked up-to find herself staring into the eyes of Mitsuko Souma.

In Mitsuko's eyes, Sakura saw knowledge…and reluctant respect. "So…you're playing, too, are you?" Mitsuko's tone was light, as though they were discussing something of no more import than the latest styles in shoes or whether or not a movie was worth seeing. "Nicely done, I have to say. Was the poison your issue weapon?"

Sakura decided that pretense would be worse than useless. "No. It was in Yuko's bag, and I appropriated it. How is it that I didn't get you?"

Mitsuko smiled a broad, genuine-looking smile. "I just had a bad feeling. Something seemed a little…off, I suppose you might call it." Her smile grew even wider, into a devil's leer. "And I was right, wasn't I?" She shook her head in wonder. "Sakura Ogawai, a mass poisoner. Who'd have thought it?"

"You don't know the half of it, Mitsuko. You remember that crime wave that hit the Shiroiwa area, starting a few years ago?" Mitsuko nodded, narrowing her eyes. "Well…that was us. Me and Kaz. At least the majority of it was. The Yakuza, or people like Kiriyama's thugs, or your lot, got the blame, but we were doing the majority of it."

"You're shitting me!" Mitsuko gasped. Then she shook her head. "No, you aren't, are you? Those people turning up dead, all those break-ins…that was you two?" Her eyes went wide. "Merciful Buddha! You pulled the wool over everybody's eyes! I'd never, never have believed it, not in a thousand years!"

Sakura was watching Mitsuko carefully, and she noticed that while Mitsuko's admiration seemed to be perfectly genuine, one of her hands was inching toward her waistband, where she still had what looked like a Colt Government Model thrust through.

Mitsuko shook her head again, ruefully. "Well…color me surprised! I should thank you…for eliminating some of the obstacles to my victory, _bitch_!" The last word came out in a full-throated shriek, as she yanked the pistol out and shot.

Sakura had been anticipating a move like that, and she was already ducking to one side, pulling out her own pistol. Once she was down on the floor, she looked around, and couldn't see Mitsuko anywhere. She could hear her, though…Mitsuko's breathing was ragged and harsh, loud in the sudden quiet.

"I know where you are…you can't escape me…" came Mitsuko's voice, a low, feral snarl very unlike her usual bell-like tones. Then Mitsuko was right in front of her, shrieking a war-cry and rearing back to swing her sickle straight at Sakura's face. Sakura screamed involuntarily, pulling her trigger. Mitsuko snarled, gripping her side as she scrambled back. "Bitch, you're dead meat! _Nobody_ bloods Hardcore Souma and gets away with it!"

Back under cover, Mitsuko went on: "You're just like all of them…just like all those men…taking, and taking, and taking…" Sakura had no idea of what Mitsuko was babbling about, but her yammering at least helped pinpoint where she was. Keeping low, and under cover as best she could, she inched forward, hoping to catch Mitsuko off-guard.

Unfortunately, she miscalculated. The next thing she knew, Mitsuko Souma was on top of her, trying to bring her sickle down and across her throat. Gurgling and groaning with the effort, Sakura fought back, trying to get Mitsuko off her, pushing the handle of the sickle away. The razor-sharp edge got close enough at one point to neck the tender skin of her neck.

Suddenly, Sakura felt Mitsuko's weight leave her, and she rolled over onto her back, to see Mitsuko clawing and struggling as Kazuhiko held her up from behind. Mitsuko's uniform tore, in a way that Sakura knew would normally be very alluring to men, and she escaped Kaz' grip. Kaz hissed "You die, bitch…you die now!" as he leveled the Uzi and pressed the trigger.

Nothing happened. For a second, Kaz and Mitsu stared at each other. "Of all the _goddamned_ times for this stupid thing to jam!" Kaz finally shouted, tossing it aside and pulling a pistol out of his waistband. Unfortunately, Mitsuko had snapped out of her shock a millisecond earlier, and she was already aiming her Colt…just in time for Sakura to gather herself and leap forward, catching Mitsuko in the side and knocking her back. Mitsuko's shot went wild, burying itself in the ceiling.

"Two to one aren't odds I favor. Later, you two! Thanks again for eliminating those others, Sakura!" Mitsuko rolled, grabbing her bag and throwing herself through the front door of the lighthouse. Sakura could hear her footsteps, rapid and light on the gravel, as she pelted away at top speed.

Gasping and sobbing for air, she looked up at Kazuhiko. "Thanks, Kaz," she finally managed to whisper. "She nearly had me. Did you hear the shooting?"

"Yeah. I came a-running the second I heard. I just wish I knew what went wrong with this damn gun," Kaz answered. He helped her up, and into a chair. For the first time, he had a chance to look around, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the three corpses. "I take it you tried out that cyanide?"

"Sure did. Unfortunately, Mitsu smelled a rat somehow." Sakura rubbed her neck. "Damn, I wish I'd taken that bitch out! She's going to be trouble…and she knows we're playing!"

"But she is too, isn't she?" Kaz asked. At Sakura's nod, he continued: "Well, I am not going to worry about it too much. People are dropping like flies, and unless she manages to find Hirono Shimizu or Yoshimi Yahagi, I don't think anybody's going to be interested in teaming with her."

"Yoshimi's dead. I think Mitsuko might have taken her out, from what she was saying. She didn't say it right out, but it sounded like it to me." Sakura finally began to relax slightly, watching as Kazuhiko began to clear up the mess. He looked at the stew, and his eyes lit up.

"Hungry?" Kaz nodded. "Well-the stew's fine…but don't touch the tea."

END Chapter 09


	10. Chapter 10

Folie a Deux, Chapter 10

by Technomad

When they had eaten, Sakura and Kazuhiko sat down for a little while. Kaz casually pushed one of the corpses-Satomi's-out of the way, and then bent to look at it more closely. Pulling Sakura close, he murmured, just loudly enough for her to hear, but hopefully not loud enough for the microphones in their collars to pick up: "I think we have an unparalleled opportunity here, Sakura."

Sakura wondered for a second what he meant. She understood, though, when he delved into one of his pockets and came out with the small set of lockpicks that he carried everywhere. She had one like it, but Kazuhiko was by far the better lockpick artist. She hadn't begun learning how to seriously pick locks until they had teamed up; before that, she had been stuck with using an expired credit card to "loid" doors open when possible, and been stymied when faced with doors that were more securely locked.

Kaz, on the other hand, had a real magic touch with lockpicks and things of that sort. He had made them each a highly-concealable handcuff key, which they both carried at all times, in case the worst happened. He could pick nearly any keyed lock that they had ever encountered; the few times he'd been defeated, it had been because they had come in danger of discovery, not because he lacked skill.

Leaning over Satomi's corpse, heedless of the mess, Kaz began carefully examining the lock on the collar that she, along with everybody else unfortunate enough to be in the Program, wore. He whistled tunelessly through his teeth, but didn't say anything; the dead girls' collars were apparently dead, having died with their wearers, but his and Sakura's collars were still "live" and still equipped with transmitters. They had no way of knowing how heavily they were monitored, but it was safest to assume that anything they said to each other was overheard.

As Kazuhiko began working on Satomi's collar, Sakura stepped back and kept an eye on the windows. She couldn't hear anything from outside, but that didn't mean someone wasn't prowling around, looking for a way in. She regretted that they hadn't barricaded the doors and windows, but that had its own drawbacks. Someone who was malicious enough could easily set the whole building on fire, and if they had blocked the doors and windows, they could be trapped by the flames.

Finally, after a few minutes, she heard a soft click, and looked at Kaz as he straightened up, holding up Satomi's collar. He put his finger to his lips, and gestured toward the table. When Sakura followed him, she saw that he was writing on a tablet that had been around. She leaned over his shoulder and read: _Now that I have this thing off, I can figure it out easily. The lock wasn't too difficult, but I don't know if it would be different on us. I don't want to take a chance until I'm absolutely sure._

Sakura felt herself smiling a genuine smile for the first time since she'd awakened in that hell-classroom, with that awful "teacher" spouting his rubbish. If they could remove their collars at will, they could possibly "disappear"-be counted as dead, while still very much alive. Of course, that predicated on them being able to avoid detection from the ubiquitous television cameras, but it was a lot better than having to worry about their heads being blown off if nobody killed anybody in too long, or they strayed into the wrong area.

Kaz was writing again: _Once the collars are off, we can hide out in one of the forbidden zones. They won't look for us there, and our classmates won't be able to get at us, either._

Sakura liked that idea a great deal. She kept an eye on the windows for any shadows that might mean someone was skulking around outside, while Kaz bent to his task. She knew better than to joggle his elbow when he was up to his eyes in mastering a new kind of lock or alarm. It was complicated, delicate, fiddly work, and Kaz seriously didn't appreciate interruptions while he was doing it.

Sakura thought gloatingly that the people who had put the Program together had never anticipated snaring a pair such as herself and Kazuhiko. Most "normal" ninth-graders, even the so-called "delinquent" types, would have had no more success trying to pick one of the locks on their collars than they would have had trying to fly by flapping their arms. For all their youth, she and Kaz were professional criminals, and dealing with locks was just one of the things they did as a matter of routine.

Sakura heard something that brought her to full alert. In a low voice, she said: "I think I'll go outside and patrol around this building, darling. If someone's out there, I can deal with him or her more easily from ground level than from up in the lighthouse."

"Fine. Take the submachinegun," Kaz replied, peering at the innards of Satomi's collar in a beam of sunlight that was shining through one of the windows. Sakura nodded, picked up the Uzi, and checked it to see why it had jammed earlier. She quickly found out that the round in the chamber was defective, and pulled it out, tossing it tidily into a nearby wastebasket. Once that was done, she slotted the magazine back in, racked back the bolt, and was ready to go. She kissed Kaz lightly on one cheek and stepped out into the daylight.

Clouds were rolling in; it looked like it would rain soon. Well, this was Japan, so that was nothing at all unusual. Sakura regretted the lovely, watertight rain coat that currently hung in her closet at home, but there was nothing she could do about it. If it rained and she and Kaz were forced from their shelter, they'd just have to get soaked.

She looked around carefully. The breeze off the sea ruffled the leaves of the trees and bushes of Okishima, which made her slightly nervous. She felt like someone was watching her…someone who wasn't showing himself. She shuddered.

Mastering the urge to spray down the bushes with the Uzi-she understood why saving ammunition was a good idea; there was no guarantee that they could find more, even though the caliber it took was very common—she moved on around the lighthouse. The side closest to the sea was very close to the cliffside, with only a narrow path between the side of the building and the edge of the cliff. _At least here, nobody could sneak up on me_! She stood there for a minute, enjoying the wind off the sea; she had always liked the smell of salt air, and one of her long-term goals was to make enough money, by legal or illegal means, to have a home by the sea.

Scolding herself for permitting such inattention—if they'd been on a thieving expedition, she would never have let herself be so careless—she went on around the lighthouse. On the path leading up to the door, she saw dark stains, and squatted, examining them more closely.

It looked like the wound they'd dealt Mitsuko had been more serious than it looked at first glance; she'd apparently been losing blood as she ran from the lighthouse. Was she lying somewhere, bleeding? Was she even alive? Sakura's interest in the question was not merely academic; she had no doubts that if little Miss "Hardcore" Souma was alive and in condition to fight, she was still a danger. Most of their companions in misfortune were no threat, but Mitsuko was playing, and just as ruthless as she and Kaz were.

Straightening, she looked out over the forest again. The feeling that someone was out there, watching, waiting his—or her—time came over her again, and she shivered. However, nobody was in sight, and she turned and went on in. Once she had the door closed between her and the outside world of Okishima Island and the Program, she felt a lot better.

Kaz greeted her with a smile. He held out the tablet he'd found, and she read: _The lock on these things is absurdly simple. I can take our collars off any time I want. The triggering mechanism for the explosive charge, as nearly as I can tell, is rigged so that if someone tries __pulling__ on it, the charge goes off._ She looked up and gave Kaz a huge smile, before reading on_: I think we should make our move tonight. It's a good few hours before dark. Unless this building goes danger zone, we should stay here. If others show up, we should be able to con them the way we did the others_.

She nodded. As usual with Kaz' plans, it made good sense. She figured that once their collars were off, they were halfway home-free. Out loud, she said: "I didn't see anybody outside, but I had that feeling I sometimes get. You know the one, where I feel like someone's watching. And I found bloodstains. I wonder if Mitsuko's out there, planning something?" She'd have said more, but interrupted herself with a huge yawn.

Kaz took the Uzi from her. "Look, you've had a strenuous few hours, and we're both a bit short on sleep. Why don't you lie down here on one of the couches? Get some shut-eye; I'll keep watch. If someone tries breaking in here, we should be able to hear it in time to do something about it."

Right just then, sleep sounded like the most wonderful idea in the world to Sakura. She lay down, heedless of the corpses a few feet away, and her eyes drifted shut. She smiled as she felt herself falling asleep; she knew that Kaz would protect her to the last. The last thing she felt was Kaz' hand, patting her head gently.

END Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Folie a Deux, Chapter 11

by Technomad

That evening, after the rain had stopped, Kaz and Sakura slipped out of the lighthouse. They had wanted to leave earlier, but since it was raining and a stiff breeze was blowing, they had stayed on; neither of them relished the idea of getting soaked and coming down with a cold or pneumonia. In the Program, illness could be fatal.

As they left, Kaz noticed footprints that didn't belong to either of them, or to Mitsuko, around the lighthouse. He shuddered at the thought of someone prowling around, someone unwilling to announce his presence. Whoever it was had almost certainly been playing. Judging from the size of the prints, and the shape of them, Kaz thought it had been a boy—a tall boy.

_Who could it have been_? Kaz went over the list of the boys in their class in his mind as he and Sakura headed into the sheltering woods. Some of them he could eliminate immediately: Toshinori Oda, Keita Iijima, Yuichiro Takiguchi and Yutaka Seto were all much too small to have made those tracks. Others who were large enough had been killed; he'd heard the announcements about Tatsumichi Ooki, for one.

Kaz made sure that the Uzi, which he was carrying, was loaded and ready to fire at a moment's notice. He did not like the idea of someone shadowing them, not for one second. His and Sakura's freedom had always depended on remaining unsuspected. Of course, here, there were worse dangers than being caught by the Yakuza or the police.

Kaz privately decided that he, at least, wouldn't sleep until whoever was shadowing them was definitely, permanently dead. _Dead is better. Dead, he can't come up on us and kill us unawares. _

"Sakura," he murmured, "keep your eyes skinned. There's someone out there." Sakura nodded, peering around suspiciously. She hefted the MAC-10; they had decided that it, being lighter, was a better weapon for her than the Uzi. Of course, they still had all the other firearms they had scavenged. Not only was it foolish to rely only on one weapon apiece, no matter how much lead it would spew, but weapons left behind could conceivably be taken by someone else and used against them.

Fair fights were for fools. Both Kazuhiko and Sakura were convinced of that. Oh, when competing in the martial arts, fairness was useful, if only for an honest gauge of skill, but on the streets—no. The graveyards were full of people who thought that _dojo_ rules applied on the streets. A few of them had been put there by Kaz himself, or Kaz and Sakura together. So they'd keep all the guns they could carry, and if they happened to get more than that, they'd make sure that the ones they dumped were useless.

A premonitory crackle echoed from the loudspeakers all over the island, and Kaz and Sakura relaxed to listen to the evening's "homeroom" announcement. Kamon's voice came from the speakers, sounding, as always, like a man utterly content with the world and his place in it.

"Good evening, little warriors! It's five in the evening, and I must say, I'm very pleased with you all! You're really doing Shiroiwa proud! Can you keep it up?" Kaz and Sakura looked at each other, and rolled their eyes in exasperation. _Who is that self-satisfied jackass, to congratulate us_? thought Kaz bitterly. _If he likes this damned game so much, let him put on a collar, come out and play! _ Sakura's expression of elegant disgust told him that, as usual, they were on the exact same wavelength.

"On to the dead," Kamon continued, his tones suggesting that this, too, would be a huge treat for his listeners. "Among the young ladies, we've had more losses. Girl #9, Yuko Sakaki. Girl #13, Takako Chigusa. Girl #16, Yuka Nakagawa. And Girl #17, Satomi Noda." Kaz noted down the deaths on his class list. _Guess we didn't take little Miss "Hardcore" Souma down, after all_! He wondered if she was lying up somewhere, badly wounded, or if she'd just been grazed. Personally, if she just died quietly somewhere, he'd be perfectly satisfied.

"We've only lost one of the young gentlemen," Kamon drawled, "but, let me tell you, this one was a big surprise to us here at Command Central! The sole loss was none other than Boy #6, the one, the only, the incomparable Kazuo Kiriyama! Congratulations to whoever got him—even though your victory cost me a pretty penny in money I'd bet on him!"

Kaz and Sakura exchanged glances. Without words, they gave each other the same message: _Good! _Kaz would have far rather cost Kamon some blood, or better still, his worthless life, but having hit him in the pocketbook was better than nothing at all. Idly, Kaz wondered what the odds were on him and Sakura, together or separately.

Kamon went on to announce the new off-limits areas. None of them were nearby, but both Kaz and Sakura marked them off on their maps dutifully. Looking at the map, Kaz had an idea. The forbidden areas came into effect over time; they didn't all come on-line at once. Could they use one of those to flush out their stalker?

Out loud, he told Sakura: "I don't know about you, but I don't much like this place. The ground's awfully damp. Let's go over down deeper into the island. This place is a little too exposed to the winds off the Inland Sea." Meanwhile, he gave her an unobtrusive hand signal. It meant: _Play along-I've got a plan._ Sakura nodded, and they picked up their bags and guns.

As they turned to go, Kaz sniffed the air. He smelled pine woods, the salt air off the Seto Inland Sea-and something else. Something very familiar. He smiled to himself. He suddenly knew who was creeping along behind them. He was already formulating a good plan to rid themselves of _that_ particular nuisance.

Some hours later, they found a good spot, right on the edge of one of the forbidden zones. It was sheltered from the weather by trees, and off the beaten paths enough to make it less likely for anybody to be able to surprise them. There were several large fallen trees that formed a small hollow, which provided some protection from ambush or stray bullets.

Kaz and Sakura squatted down, both of them glad of the cover. Kaz glanced around. There were no television cameras visible; the pylons on which the cameras were installed were all at a distance, and tended to cover more open areas. Kaz leaned close to Sakura, so they could speak privately.

"Sakura—Sho Tsukioka's trailing us. I smelled those horrible menthol cigarettes he smokes, a while back. I also saw footprints outside the lighthouse."

"You sure it's Tsukioka?"

"About as sure as I can be, short of seeing the bastard directly. He's good at stalking and following people without being seen, but he's used to cities, like we are. The footprints I saw were of someone male, and fairly tall, and there's not that many of those left."

"Oh, is he now?" Sakura's eyes narrowed, and she peered around them. Unlike a lot of their female classmates, who thought his over-the-top gay ways were endearing, and liked him because he was one male who represented no threat, Sakura despised him. She much preferred subtlety to blatancy, and she thought that his endless attempts to pique the interest of boys whom she knew damn well were straight were insane, at least. And given the social strictures of the Republic, his activities were sure to lead him straight to the attention of the police, and once the police were sniffing around, there was no guarantee on _what _they'd find. Even a blind pig sometimes stumbled across an acorn.

However, Sakura's hatred of Sho did not blind her. "You're sure it's not Shogo Kawada? He's about the same height, and I think that he takes the same size shoes." She scowled. "Those school uniform regulations that make all the boys wear the exact same shoes are a nuisance. If we all wore different shoes, it'd be easier to tell who had left any footprints we find."

"When we get back to Shiroiwa, I'll be sure to mention it," Kaz gave her a sarcastic smirk. "They'll no doubt be sure to equip the next class in the Program with individualized shoes." Sakura blushed.

A tree rustled where no tree should have. Kaz' eyes narrowed, and he slowly, slowly raised the Uzi. Sakura tensed. "Is he close?" Kaz nodded. Sakura checked the MAC-10, reassuring herself that it was loaded and ready to fire.

Kaz saw a flash of what had to be uniform-jacket cloth through the leaves, and squeezed off a short burst of fire. He was rewarded by a dramatic scream, and sure enough, Sho Tsukioka broke cover, running away heedless of his usual stealth. Forgetting his usual dramatically effeminate mannerisms, he fled, and Kaz laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"The stupid, stupid bastard!" Kaz chuckled. "He's forgotten where he is! Mitsuru told me once that Sho tended to get so caught up in his stalking that he forgot what was going on around him. Well—he's headed straight into a forbidden zone, at high speed! I don't think he'll be able to stop himself before his collar takes his head off!"

Sure enough, off in the distance there was a sharp _bang_. Sakura's eyes went wide with shock. "Did you do that on purpose, Kaz?"

"No. How could I have? I was trying to take him down; I don't like the idea of anybody sneaking up on us, especially someone like him. I never understood why Kiriyama, who, to give him his rightful due, was always as smart as a whip, allowed Tsukioka to join his gang."

"Probably because he was so good at sneaking and stalking. The things that they did, someone with his skill-set was useful." Sakura smiled grimly. "He'd also have been useful as a conduit into the 'gay' subculture; I bet a lot of the stuff Kiriyama's gang stole ended up sold through Sho's dad's gay bar." While she and Kaz, of course, were straight, they had had dealings with homosexuals since teaming up. Homosexuality was severely frowned upon, forcing gays and lesbians into the same shadowy subworld that Kaz and Sakura operated in.

Kaz began writing in the dirt, and Sakura looked down to read it. He wrote: _I'm thinking it's time we tried ditching these collars. Are you game?_

Sakura nodded. She wrote: _Always, my love_.

Pulling out his lockpicks, Kaz began working carefully on the lock on Sakura's collar. Sakura held very still while he did it, and did not move a muscle until after she felt the collar lifting off her neck. Carefully, Kaz laid it down on the ground. Then, he went to work on his own collar, aided by a small mirror he produced and had Sakura hold.

It was difficult, picking the lock on his own collar, and Kaz's world shrank to his careful manipulation of his delicate tools. Several times, he took a short break when his hands began to shake and got slick with his own sweat. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the lock clicked, and Kaz gratefully pulled his collar off.

Then he noticed Sakura's face. She was staring past him, her eyes wide with fear. Slowly, Kaz turned…to find himself staring into the muzzle of a pump-action shotgun. Behind the shotgun, he could see Shogo Kawada, flanked by Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nanahara.

END Chapter 11.


	12. Chapter 12

Folie a Deux, Chapter 12

by Technomad

Slowly, very slowly, Kazuhiko put his lockpicks down and raised his hands. Inwardly, behind his impassive expression, he was raging. _Stupid, stupid, STUPID! We lowered our guard, and now it's all over! _ Then he noticed something. Shogo was lowering his shotgun, and pulling out a pad of paper and one of the pencils they all had been issued with. He wrote something, very quickly, and held out the pad. Kazuhiko and Sakura both read it, and their eyes went very wide.

Shogo had written: _Do NOT make a sound! We're friendly!_

Kazuhiko hadn't expected that, and, to judge from her expression, neither had Sakura. They looked at each other, and, wordlessly, came to a decision. Kaz picked up his picks, and held them out, a questioning expression on his face. Shogo smiled for the first time that Kaz could remember, and it transformed him. Kaz cut his eyes quickly to Sakura, and saw that she was quite pleased with the change. Even though they were devoted to each other, they both accepted that they'd find others attractive sometimes, and it didn't bother them; considering that they had no problem with Sakura going to bed with other men, either as a straight cash-for-sex deal or as part of a scheme to entrap them, they'd have had to be idiots to worry about such things.

Kaz gestured Shogo closer. When Shogo was within hands' reach, Kazuhiko went to work on the lock holding his explosive collar shut. By this time, he had the locks figured out, and it didn't take him nearly as long as it had the first few times he had worked on a collar lock. In no more than a minute, Shogo's collar was off, and then came Noriko. She submitted to Kaz' ministrations without a trace of fear, despite the real danger they were all in. Kaz raised a quizzical eyebrow. There was apparently a lot more to Noriko Nakagawa, whom he had always more-or-less dismissed as a typical "good girl"-someone of no interest to him or Sakura, who had nothing they could use and no place in their schemes-than he had believed.

Finally, Shuya, who had been keeping the watch that would have saved Kaz and Sakura the surprise of having Shogo and his friends come upon them unexpectedly, stepped up. A few quick moves of the picks, and his collar fell off him. Shuya rubbed his neck, looking like he'd been reprieved at the foot of the gallows. Before Kaz could stop him, Shuya hugged him hard enough to make his ribs creak. When Shuya let go, Kaz could see tears in his eyes, and when he looked at Noriko, she was also silently crying.

Kazuhiko felt a moment's uncharacteristic embarassment at seeing anybody else's emotions shown so openly. He was Japanese, and used to living his life behind the mask of his face. Even if he hadn't been a criminal, and he and Sakura had been a normal, loving young couple, they'd have almost never shown much affection to each other in public. Now Shuya and Noriko were clinging to each other, silently sobbing. Shogo was watching them, a wry grin on his face. Kaz looked at Sakura, and saw tears in her eyes.

Kaz picked up Shogo's pad, and wrote on it_. Let's get into the forbidden zone, and hole up, out of sight of the cameras. I think we need to talk._ He held it out, and everybody nodded. Silently, they picked up their bags and filed into the forest.

Not far into the forbidden area, they came across a gory sight. Sho Tsukioka was lying there, or at least most of him was. His head was at a distance from his body, his face strangely peaceful, and there was a huge gout of blood between them. His bag was lying close by, and Sakura absently picked it up. When she saw the others staring at her, she whispered, almost too softly to hear: "Waste not, want not!"

After about fifteen minutes, they were far enough into cover that the all-seeing cameras recording everything couldn't possibly spot them, and the trees were thick enough that overhead cameras, assuming that they were there, couldn't have possibly seen them. They found a couple of fallen logs, and sat down, with Kaz and Sakura on one log facing Shogo, Shuya and Noriko on the other.

For a few minutes, nobody said anything. Finally, Shogo shook out a cigarette from a battered box of Wild Sevens, stuck it in his mouth, and lit up. Kaz and Sakura showed no surprise. They'd both seen Shogo smoking, even on school property, ever since he'd transferred into their class at the beginning of the year. He noticed them looking at him, and held out the box. They both shook their heads; part of what had kept them unsuspected for so long was their perfect adherence, in public, to the "good little boy/girl" images they cultivated so assiduously, and smoking would have ruined that the instant they were seen doing it.

Shuya spoke up. "Before anybody else says anything, I have something to say. Thank you, Kazuhiko. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart. No matter what, I owe you big-time for what you just did."

Kazuhiko grinned. "All part of the Kazuhiko Yamamoto service package. No tips necessary."

Shogo gave Kaz a very penetrating look. "Look: there's more to you than ever met my eye, isn't there? Those picks were professional-quality; I've seen things like that before. My dad ran a free clinic in the poor part of Kobe, and I've seen locksmiths at work before." Shogo leaned forward. "What are you-really?"

Kaz looked at Sakura. Sakura looked at Kaz. "What are we?" Kaz spread his hands. "More than we seem. A great deal more than we seem."

"That's the understatement of the century!" Shuya burst out. In his usual impulsive style, like the time he'd been kicked off the school baseball team for protesting what he saw as unfair treatment of his teammates, he went on: "There's got to be an explanation for this! Where did you two get professional-quality lock tools? How do you know how to use them so well?"

"All very good questions. And we'll tell you all, dear _fellow outlaws_," smiled Kaz. He sat back, revelling in the looks that passed over Shuya's and Noriko's faces. "Yes, you heard me right..._outlaws._ Or had you thought beyond escaping the Program?" He leaned forward, spearing the newcomers with a hard stare. "The second those collars came off, you became criminals. Like Sakura and me. The difference between us is that Sakura and I've been criminals for a long time now."

"We two are largely responsible for the 'crime wave' that hit Shiroiwa," put in Sakura. Shuya, Noriko and even Shogo gaped at her like three gaffed fish. "Yes, that was us! Burglary, thefts, robberies...we've done it all! Even murder's no new thing to us!"

Kaz took up the tale, while Shogo, Shuya and Noriko sat there as if paralyzed: "We were both thieves a long time before we hooked up together, and we found that we could do a lot more as a team than individually. These days, I honestly think that we're the best damn burglary and second-story team in the Kanto area. We've got connections to fence our swag to, secret bank accounts in other names, sets of false identification and ways to get more, and even an apartment we rent in a phony name to hide out in!"

Shogo said: "So, nobody knows, but you two are the Bonnie and Clyde of Shiroiwa?" He shook his head. "That's a little hard to believe, no matter how good you are with lockpicks!"

"Think about it, Shogo. Where would a couple of ordinary ninth-graders get pro-level lock tools, much less know how to use them so easily?" Sakura's pretty face twisted into a rather evil smile. "And, frankly, it wasn't that hard to fool people. With Kazuo Kiriyama's little gang of hoodlums running around, or darling Mitsuko and her followers, who'd pay attention to a nice, well-behaved young boy and his girlfriend? So polite, we are, so studious...at least where others can see us!"

"Why are you telling us this? Why are you taking us into your confidence?" asked Noriko. She had been listening to everything, her eyes going very wide and her face going even paler than it had been. Absent-mindedly, she leaned down and rubbed the bandage someone had put on her leg, over the wound that Kamon had inflicted back in that hell-classroom. Kaz wondered who had put the bandage on; he suspected Shogo, since as far as he knew Shuya knew very little about first aid.

"Well, you did find us out, didn't you? You could have shot us right then and there, and nobody'd have said anything, would they?" Kaz tried to explain his snap decision, both to them and to himself and Sakura. "I figured that you'd be useful. Once we get off the island and back to the mainland, five of us will have a better chance than two would."

"Do you think we can survive?" That was Shuya.

"Look," Sakura pointed out, "you wouldn't have lasted this long into the Program without some kind of natural talent. We've seen other classmates of ours that we thought about taking into our confidence and expanding our little operation with, but the right time to approach them somehow never seemed to happen. You saw us with the 'mask' off, and did not shoot. That makes you potential recruits."

"Once we get back to the mainland, we'll be able to teach you what you need to know," Kaz assured them. "You'll be up to speed in no time flat!"

"But-criminals? You're going to make us criminals?" Noriko looked like she was about to faint.

Sakura looked at her, shaking her head. "Dear, just _taking off that collar_ made you a criminal. And escaping or evading the Program's a death-penalty offense in itself. Care to just walk up to a policeman and confess? They do say that hanging doesn't hurt!"

Noriko recoiled, looking distinctly green. "No! No! I didn't do anything to deserve being thrown into the Program, and I don't deserve to die!"

"But they did throw you in here, didn't they? Don't they deserve some payback...all those people who sit back in comfort and watch kids like us kill each other?" Kaz raised an eyebrow.

Noriko and Shuya obviously hadn't considered it from that angle. It was interesting to watch their faces-at first, they visibly resisted the idea, but as it sank in, they _changed_. Shuya's smile became more of a predator's leer, and Noriko suddenly looked very shifty. Shogo, at least, didn't look like he had had any problem with this take on things.

"So, what's your plan?" asked Shogo.

"First, we stay holed up here, and listen for the announcements. Once they announce a winner, they'll relax. Then, we wait. The people who live here will be back in a few days, once they've cleaned this place up. Before then, we can swim to the mainland; we can steal car inner tubes and make a raft, if you can't swim."

"I can swim," Shuya assured Kaz. "Noriko's one of the top girl swimmers in our class, didn't you know?" Kaz shook his head. "I don't know about Shogo, though..."

"Oh, I can swim," Shogo said, "but a raft's a good idea. The moon will be dark in a few days, and the Program should be over by then. It'll be a few hours to the mainland, but we should be able to do it."

END Chapter 12.


	13. Chapter 13

Folie a Deux, Chapter 13

by Technomad

They sat there, not saying anything, when the loudspeakers crackled and Kamon's hateful, drawling voice echoed out over Okishima: "Witching hour, little warriors, and my, my, _my_, you _have_ been _busy_! My confidence in you has been fully vindicated! We have some deaths to announce, so here goes! Boy #5, Shogo Kawada-that one was a surprise to us here at Command Central, for reasons I don't really wish to go into. Still and all, his death lost many of us a good deal of money in bets." A pause, then: "Boy #13 – unlucky thirteen – Yuichiro Takiguchi. Boy #14, Sho Tsukioka. Boy #15, Shuya Nanahara. Boy #18, Tadakatsu Hatagami. And Boy #21, the ever-popular Kazuhiko Yamamoto."

Sakura reached over and hugged Kaz, as he reacted to the news that he was now officially dead. Much to his surprise, it made him feel free, and almost happy, even though they still had a long way to go. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her back.

"We have fewer casualties among the young ladies this time. I guess you can't keep up that incredible rate of losses for long, can you?" Kamon asked rhetorically. "Still, we do have some. "Girl #4, Sakura Ogawai. Girl #15, Noriko Nakagawa. And, last, but never least – Girl #20, Kaori Minami. Remember…every death means the survivors are that much closer to going home!"

"Over their classmates' dead bodies," growled Shuya. Kaz shushed him, as Kamon began reading off the list of forbidden zones and when they were coming on-line. Once he had his map marked, he put his pencil back away and stretched out.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm knackered," he announced quietly. "What say we take turns sleeping, with a couple of us on watch at all times? Right at the moment, we're well-hidden, but I want to be awake and alert come dawn."

"Good idea," Sakura murmured. "Shuya, you and I can take first watch. At, oh, four o'clock or so, we'll awaken you, Kaz, and you and Shogo can take over until the next announcements. We're well-found for supplies, we've got guns if we need them…there's no need to go anywhere."

Kaz had pillowed his head on his arm, and was already drifting off. As he did so, he noticed that Sakura, clever Sakura, had divided things so that he and she would always have someone awake to keep an eye on their new friends. While he thought he could trust Shuya, idealist that he was, and Noriko had always been a "good girl," who'd no more betray her friends than fly to the moon, Shogo was an unknown quantity. He thought it would be difficult to actually fall asleep, but the next thing he knew, Shuya was gently pulling his sleeve to waken him.

"Kaz…it's four o'clock according to our watches. Hope you slept well, because it's your turn on guard." Kaz sat up, yawning, as Shuya cautiously awoke Shogo by poking him with a stick. Shogo sat up, grabbing for his pistol before remembering where he was. With a slightly sheepish grin, he silently clasped Shuya's hand as he lay down beside Noriko, who was tossing and turning, murmuring incoherent unpleasantries at whatever demons populated her sleeping mind. On the other side of Noriko, Sakura was curled up, looking like a slumbering angel. _She even sleeps pretty_, Kaz thought with an affection that was normally utterly foreign to him. Of course, her short hair made it easier to keep looking neat than some girls had. It also allowed her to pass for male, when necessary, more easily…

A soft throat-clearing noise brought Kaz back to where he was. Shogo was looking at him, his expression rather like a doctor examining a particularly difficult case, or at least that was the way it looked in the dim, diffuse moonlight that was all that came through the trees.

"So," Shogo drawled, his Kobe street-tough accent coming through more thickly than usual. "You say that you and Sakura, here, are both professional criminals. How'd you get started?" Shogo did not seem to disapprove. After all, by removing the collar or allowing its removal, he was already under sentence of death automatically himself.

Kaz smiled, reminiscing. "You know, I honestly don't remember when I started stealing. I just found that it was easy, and that I could get things I wanted that way. It sort of built from there." He scratched his back; sleeping out in the open, on the ground, meant a closer acquaintance with various multi-legged, itchy beasties than he cared for. Like most Japanese, he was quite fastidious when he had the chance to be.

"I still remember the first house I ever broke into. I knew that the people who lived there were away. They'd gone to Sendai, up in the north, for some sort of family get-together. Still, I can't deny that it was a scary moment when I vaulted the wall around their garden. I stood there for a few minutes, shaking in my shoes, half-expecting the police to pop out of nowhere and grab me."

Shogo raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Like losing your virginity?"

Kaz snickered, glancing over reflexive to make sure that Sakura was soundly asleep. "Very like, now that you put it that way."

"Okay, you found you could do it and get away with it. Where'd you go from there?"

"Onward and upward. The scary feeling never really went away, but I just got used to it. Can't say I'm sorry it's there, though. It keeps me, and Sakura now that we're together, from getting careless."

"Good point." Shogo grinned rather wolfishly; his scar made him seem demonic in the gray light of false dawn. "Did you run into any problems getting rid of what you took?"

"Not really. At first I stuck to things I could use myself, like money; that first house had a nice stash of cash and I happened to know where it was. I'd heard the wife of the family talking to one of her friends. Money was no problem, of course. Electronics…I stuck to things I could plausibly have received as gifts, and found some shops that would buy them from me, no-questions-asked. 'Yeah, I got this from my Auntie Michiko, and I already have one, so could you take it off my hands, sir?' Combined with my innocent face, respectable clothing and butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth manner, they bought my act…and the goodies I brought them. They were probably rubbing their hands together under the counter over the chance to cheat a kid out of money; a lot of the prices I took, particularly at first when I didn't know the ropes, were a lot lower than I could have had."

"Why, those dirty crooks," Shogo drawled, grinning. "They ought to be locked up, cheating an aspiring young thief like that!"

Kaz chuckled, seeing the humor. "Hey, it was all profit. The five-finger discount's the lowest one there is! In any case, I figured out who the people were who offered me the best prices; I learned quickly to take things around and not snap at the first offer I saw, and that led me to the people I now use."

"How did you and Sakura team up?" Shogo fumbled in his pocket for a cigarette, making a disappointed face when he found out that he only had a few left.

"I was out casing the stores in Shiroiwa one day, looking for gaps in their security, when I spotted her slipping some things into her pockets. She nearly shat herself when I came up beside her, out on the street, and muttered that I'd seen the whole thing. Once I calmed her down, in an ice-cream parlor nearby, I told her that she had a lot of talent and shouldn't be wasting it on penny-ante shoplifting." Kaz smiled, thinking back on that first meeting. "Since then, our fortunes have combined and our horizons have broadened. I taught her a lot, and she's been really useful to me in a lot of ways."

"I bet she was," Shogo commented, lighting his cigarette while shielding the gleam of the match from being seen. Sucking in the smoke, his face took on a tranquil, contented expression, contrasting oddly with his scarred, battered skin. "And since then…?"

"Since then, we've been refining our skills and attempting more and more challenging crimes. I've read up on electronic security systems, and now know how to spot and beat the common kinds. And, as you know, we're both good hands with picklocks. These days, most places that don't have high-level security are only safe from us if we decide to stay away. And we never, never, never neglect precautions or get overconfident."

Shogo shook his head in reluctant respect. "Looks like we lucked out, coming across you when we did."

Kaz nodded. "If you'd have been even a few minutes later, we'd have been deep in the forbidden zone, and you'd never have known we were there. As it was, you saw what we were doing, and didn't shoot. That means, to me at least, that you're worth adding to the team." He gestured. "We've thought about adding others, but the time never seemed to be right or we couldn't figure out how to approach them safely." Kaz shrugged eloquently. "Hirono Shimizu looked promising, but she's so tight with sweet Mitsuko Souma that we didn't think we could trust her."

"Wise of you," Shogo drawled. By now, it was nearly daylight. "Why don't we awaken these sleeping beauties, and see what the day will bring?"

END Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

Folie a Deux, Chapter 14

by Technomad

The dawn came, gray and misty, nothing unusual for Japan. Kaz and Shogo gently awoke their friends, making sure that they stayed quiet. Once everybody was awake, they broke their fast with some of the bread that they, and the unlucky ones whose bags they'd been able to appropriate, had been issued. Washing it down with some water, they settled down to wait. Finally, Noriko cleared her throat.

"Er, guys…could you excuse me for a minute? I need to go behind a bush somewhere." She tried to stand, only to nearly fall over; her wounded leg had stiffened overnight, and she couldn't quite get it to hold her weight. "Sakura, could you help me, please?"

Shuya had been about to offer help, but Shogo caught his eye and shook his head slightly, and he sat back down. Sakura got up and took Noriko by the arm. "We'll both go, dear. Could one of you men hand me a pistol, just in case?" Shuya passed her a revolver, and she checked it to make sure it was fully loaded, then stuck it into the waistband of her skirt. "Excuse us, then. We'll be back very soon."

Once the girls had gone, Kaz, Shuya and Shogo looked at each other for a few minutes. Finally, Shuya broke the silence. "I'll bet that they want to talk, and talk privately. I've been with Noriko since this damned game started, and I know the signs. She's overdue for some girl-talk, and she wants to dissect this situation with Sakura. There are things that girls just feel more comfortable discussing with other girls."

Just then, a premonitory crackle echoed across the island, and all three of them shut up. Sure enough, it was morning "homeroom," and they soon heard Kamon's familiar drawl.

"Good morning, little warriors! We're getting down to the endgame, but there's still a way to go! Diligence can be the key to walking out of here a victor, so don't lower your guard!" Kaz scowled. _As if__ I'd be stupid enough to do __that_… he thought, and then remembered that he had lowered his guard while freeing Sakura. If they'd been surprised by players, instead of rebels against the Program, they'd both be dead for real.

"Now, the list of our losses," Kamon continued. Kaz could hear him taking a bite of something, and his stomach rumbled. He was not really terribly hungry, but he would have cheerfully committed murder for something beside the issued bread-and-water ration. "Boy #2, Keita Iijima. Boy #4, Toshinori Oda. Girl #19, Chisato Matsui. Not bad, but you can do better, and I know you will! Maybe by noon, maybe by evening, we'll have a winner!" Then he read off the list of the new forbidden zones, and signed off "—till noon, little warriors!"

Kaz, Shogo and Shuya got busy marking off the names of the dead, and marking forbidden zones. By this time, a good deal of Okishima was off-limits to anybody wearing a collar; of course, it was completely open to them as long as they weren't seen moving around. When they were done, Shuya commented: "I wish we could link up with Shinji Mimura and Hiroki Sugimura. They'd be mighty useful."

Kaz thought about it. Shinji, he could see, would be a welcome addition; he was smart as a whip and, to judge from his exploits among the girls, not too concerned with rules. Hiroki, on the other hand, he wasn't nearly so sure about. Hiroki was a real straight arrow, and even to save his own life, he would probably balk at a lot of the things that Kaz and Sakura had done.

Meanwhile, after they had nipped behind some bushes, Sakura and Noriko were putting their clothes to rights, or at least trying to; sleeping rough in their clothes was not what their school uniforms were designed for. They gave each other rueful looks about how bedraggled they looked, then both giggled involuntarily.

"So, Sakura," Noriko whispered, "tell me all about it. How did you get started as a – as a criminal?" From the way she said it, one would have thought that she thought of crime as a big forbidden thrill; her tone would have been appropriate for asking one of hr girlfriends about what it had been like to lose her virginity. Sakura smiled to herself, and gestured toward a nearby fallen log.

"Why don't you sit down here with me, and I'll tell you all about it? It's quite a story, really." Sakura looked up at the sky. "The boys can do without us for a little while, I think." Soon both girls were seated, their heads close together, just as though they were about to indulge in a gossiping session back in Shiroiwa. Sakura had never been close to Noriko, or any of the other girls in their school, but she knew the drill. She lowered her voice.

"I was stealing things a long time before I hooked up with Kazuhiko, dear. I started by nicking food out of the pantry, and just went on from there. It's surprisingly easy." Sakura smiled. "By now, except for places with the best anti-theft electronic security, the only places that are safe from us are the places we decide not to go for some reason. We've burglarized houses, picked pockets on the train…I'm a real whiz at that…stolen from stores and warehouses, and made a lot of money at it!"

"Really? I think I'd be scared!" Noriko shivered. "I'd be afraid that I'd get caught!"

"That's not a bad fear to have, darling," Sakura smiled. "As long as you remain mistress of your fear, it's useful and a good thing. I think it keeps me from becoming overconfident and sloppy." Noriko's eyes went very wide; she obviously hadn't considered the whole thing from that angle. "Most criminals get caught, when they do, either through bad luck or carelessness. We do our best to minimize the chances of bad luck catching up to us, and as long as we're never, never careless, our chances of being caught are minimal. We also make sure to not have evidence on us linking us to other things we've done, so if the worst happens and we do get caught, at least we won't be punished for more than the one thing we're caught for."

"Oh! That makes good sense." Noriko thought about it for a few minutes. "Do you really think I could become a criminal, too? I mean, I obviously can't just go home and go on like nothing has happened. The police would be on me instantly."

"Right you are." Sakura regarded Noriko carefully. The girl had more brains than Sakura would have thought she did; for a second, she wondered what would have happened if she had confided in Noriko before. _Probably she'd have gone squealing to the authorities_, Sakura decided_…it took the shock of being thrown into the BR Program to jolt her loose from her comfortable little niche of thought._

Sakura suddenly had a wonderful idea. "I don't know if we can make a burglar or thief out of you, Noriko, but there's other possibilities. How good are you at office chores?"

Noriko ruminated for a second. "I was taking clerical courses, and did pretty well at them. Why do you ask?"

"Because, dear, there's other ways in which you could be very useful. Imagine how much information you could find for us if you were working at the police station! Or possibly at an insurance office."

"I see! I could find out whether the police had any clues about what you'd done, and give you warnings if they were getting close on your trail! Or if someone had something interesting that they'd insured, I could Xerox a copy of the inventory and information for you!"

"Right!" Sakura and Noriko hugged each other. "There's lots of ways you can help, even if you aren't up to climbing into strange buildings at night or taking wallets from drunk salarymen! Someone that nobody would suspect would be perfect for getting information or keeping a watch!"

"Let's go back to the boys!" As Noriko made the suggestion, they heard the crackle that told of morning "homeroom." They listened quietly, Noriko scowling and Sakura calculating. When it was over, Sakura sighed.

"Judging from how few there are left, and how many forbidden zones there are, I'd say that we'll be ready to make a move by this evening at the latest." She looked up at the cloudy sky. "I don't know if we could be spotted if we moved around during daylight, but I'd just as soon not chance it."

END Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

Folie a Deux, Chapter 15

by Technomad

The day dragged on; they alternated dozing with keeping a watch, just on the off-chance that someone might spot them and raise the alarm. At noon, the loudspeakers gave their usual premonitory crackle, and Kamon announced some new losses.

At the news of Hiroki Sugimura and Shinji Mimura's death, Shuya looked stricken; Kaz figured that he had had hopes of somehow rescuing his friends. Yutaka Sato and the only female loss, Kayoko Kotohiki, rounded off the tally of the dead. When the loudspeakers fell silent, Shuya got up. "Could you excuse me? I want to be alone for a while."

Sakura caught Kaz's eye, and nodded silently. Kaz had figured out that Shuya wanted to grieve in peace, and let him leave, contenting himself with a murmured: "Don't get too far away. I don't know how much longer this can take. There's only two people left, and I'd say they were both playing." Shuya nodded, his eyes shining with the tears he was too proud to shed in front of them, and slipped off into the bushes. When they heard him sobbing, they knew not to disturb him.

Rather to Kaz' surprise, Noriko didn't seem as disturbed as Shuya was. "The people I was closest to died earlier," she explained, seeing the expression on Kaz' face. "In any case, there'll be enough time for grieving when we're safely away from here. Do you mind if I take a look at the map?"

Slightly puzzled, Kaz passed her his map, with the forbidden zones marked in pencil. Noriko studied it carefully. "It looks to me like we're not too far from one of the inhabited parts of this island," she commented. "Shuya said that there were cars here, and it's not too far from the shoreline. Once it's clear, we can get down there and put together a raft from inner tubes. Honshu's just a few miles away, and, thank Buddha, the water's fairly warm this time of year." She gave them an impish smile. "And I wasn't one of the top swimmers in our year entirely for nothing, you know!"

"Good to hear," Shogo said, cracking a rare grin. "I wasn't looking forward to swimming all that way while carrying you!" Noriko stuck out her tongue at him, and she and Sakura both giggled.

"I'll want to wait till after dark for setting out, even if the game ends while there's still daylight," Shogo went on. "By day, there's just too much chance of someone or other spotting us. When I was in before…" his voice suddenly trailed off, as Kaz and Sakura stared at him.

For a few seconds, there was thick silence, broken only by the sounds of the forest. Finally, Sakura spoke up: "When you were in before…in _what_? Were you in the Program before?" Shogo nodded, and Kaz and Sakura exchanged horrified looks.

Noriko said: "He told me and Shuya about it before. Apparently he and his old classmates fought it out in an abandoned, or evacuated, part of a city that had been walled off."

"How did you end up in the Program a second time?" Kaz was utterly horrified, and he had always thought he was totally unshockable. This was something that even he had never conceived of. The idea had never occurred to him, and he could see that Sakura was just as gobsmacked as he was.

"Well…after I survived, and don't _ever_ call it 'winning,' because I paid a price that I'd have given anything not to pay…I was hurt really badly. Bullet wounds, cuts, and what-have-you. I ended up spending a long time in the hospital, and to keep me under control while I was there, they hooked me on morphine. I had to shake that monkey off my back when they threw me out into the street, and by the time I was back on my feet, it was much too late to go back to school. I transferred to Shiroiwa and started the same year over. And now here I am."

Kaz and Sakura exchanged glances. Without words, they both said the same thing: _And those people would call __us__ criminals!_ Kaz had long since accepted that he was evil; he did a lot of things that he knew fully well were wrong, and with Sakura's help, he had expanded his repertoire enormously. Even so, there were things that he and Sakura, together or independently, would never do, and he had just discovered a new one. _Of course_, he thought with some mordant self-knowledge, _we might not have felt so strongly about it before we got sucked into the Program ourselves!_

Before their fateful school trip, the Program had been something safely distant. Like being in an accident on the street, it was something that _could_ happen…but always happened to someone _else_. Neither of them had, to his knowledge, ever known anybody who'd been taken by the Program. With forty-three thousand school districts in the Greater East Asia Republic, even with several Programs in a year, the odds would be excellent that any given school would be passed over by this particular Angel of Death.

Having it happen to oneself, though, was a great corrective to such complacency. Kaz remembered seeing Program videos for sale, and catching the live broadcasts, and mainly being interested in the odds on the participants. After this, he didn't think he'd ever be able to do that again, and he was sure that the others wouldn't, either.

"I killed," Shogo said, his voice thick with the tears he refused to shed. "I played, and played hard. I ended up setting a record for a fast win." For a second, his usual sardonic mask cracked, showing a hell of raw pain beneath. "Merciful Buddha, I wish I'd lost!"

"It can't have been easy, Shogo. Was there someone you cared about…someone special?" Noriko's eyes were shining as she ventured to put her hand on the older boy's arm. Shogo grunted and pulled out his wallet. Inside, along with some currency and identification papers, was a photograph that had been encased in clear plastic to preserve it.

"Me…and Keiko. Keiko Inoue." Leaning closer, Kaz saw a picture of what had to be a younger Shogo, sitting next to a pretty, intelligent-looking girl. In the picture, Shogo's hair was much longer and he didn't have his distinctive scars. He and the girl looked very happy to be together, smiling at the camera with their heads close together, making a "V" with their fingers to show that they knew the picture was being taken. It could have been a picture of him and Sakura, out on a harmless "normal" date. "This was taken a week or so before our class was…taken."

"Shogo…she's _beautiful_!" Noriko breathed. Then she looked up at him, blushing. "Not that you weren't pretty yummy yourself!" Much to Kaz' amusement, Shogo blushed slightly.

"Yeah," Sakura chimed in. "What was she like?"

"She was everything I had ever wanted in a girlfriend. Beautiful, intelligent, empathetic…quite a bit more than I am, I have to admit." He grinned rather ruefully. "It drove her nuts when I wasn't sympathetic to people who I felt had fallen into trouble through their own damn stupid faults. Sometimes, I'd drive her to tears." He looked haunted. "She never knew how bad that made me feel…"

"Look, Shogo. Sometimes we just _have to_ cry. It doesn't mean you've done anything wrong. She might have been crying because she knew you were right, and hated it." Sakura's calm, even analysis got through, where sympathy might not have. Shogo gave her a grateful look before returning to his terrible tale.

"A couple of weeks after this was taken, we…our whole class…was scooped up. They told us we were getting required immunizations. Surprise, surprise!" His tone was sardonic, before it turned wistful: "I wondered why the nurse who swabbed my arm, and the doc who injected me, both looked so sad…"

Kaz figured that he knew. He knew some bent doctors and nurses, and had done business with some of them, but he'd never met one that would willingly allow a patient under their care to come to harm. He wondered idly what the government had threatened them with to make them obey, then shut off _that_ line of thought before he was forced to remember Mr. Hayashida. He was pretty hard, but seeing his teacher's battered corpse casually exposed to their view was different, somehow, from what happened when he and Sakura took down a victim in an alley. _Maybe_, he thought, _it was because we knew Mr. Hayashida_? But he and Sakura had had no problem killing their classmates…He put the problem aside to examine later, when they were, hopefully, off the island and safely in hiding on the Honshu mainland.

Shuya finally came back, and was sitting with them, when the loudspeakers crackled. Since it wasn't time for evening "homeroom," they all knew that someone had won. Sure enough, a rather tinny fanfare blared out across Okishima.

"And…we have a _winner_!" Kamon's voice sounded as pleased as though he'd won the fight all by himself. "In a surprising upset, Girl #10, Hirono Shimizu, has just finished off Girl #11, Mitsuko Souma, to become the winner of this iteration of the Battle Royale Program! Miss Shimizu, you may now come in. The restricted areas have been neutralized. We'll be waiting for you with medical attention."

"Got to keep the tame monkey alive, don't they?" muttered Shogo. Shuya nodded, and Noriko scowled. "I got a helicopter ride out. Wonder if they'll do that for her?"

"Don't know. It'll be dark in a few hours, and we can start making our move. Once we're back on Honshu, Sakura and I can access our secret bank accounts…the ones we set up under other names. We'll hide up at our hideout apartment. It'll be cramped, and we'll be jammed in, but it's roomier than a grave." Kaz scratched himself. "It's also got a bath, and right now, that's just the thing I want the most!"

"And once we're rested up…hey, ho, for _Tokyo_!" Sakura grinned impishly. "Our criminal contacts back home don't know us by our real names, and as long as we're careful, we can get in touch with them and find names and places to go once we're in the big city. Tokyo's a big place and we can blend in."

"It's also where the national government is," commented Shuya. In the dimming light, his smile looked remarkably evil. "And I think some revenge is in order, don't you?"

Everybody nodded silently.


	16. Chapter 16

Folie a Deux, Chapter 16

by Technomad

(_I've expanded this from the version I had up earlier.)_

Rain poured down outside the cramped little apartment. Nobody inside paid attention. Sitting all but in each others' laps (the apartment really wasn't meant for more than one person) they were all riveted to the small, flickery TV that sat on a small table against one wall.

The screen showed Hirono Shimizu, held up by two Self-Defense Force soldiers, clearly barely able to stand up on her own. Her uniform tunic and skirt were stiff with dried blood, and her eyes weren't focussing too clearly.

"She reminds me of the first time I became aware of the Program, back when Yoshi and I were kids at the orphanage," Shuya commented softly. "We were going to watch our kids' show, when it was pre-empted by an announcement that the Program had had another winner. It was a girl, and she was holding this doll…she gave the camera this absolutely _insane_ smile." He looked away from the screen. "That was the first time I ever saw an insane person, but I was too young to understand. I just knew that something wasn't _right_ about her."

"Most Program 'winners' end up insane. They have a very high suicide rate," commented Shogo. He sighed. "When I came back, I was just planning to off myself…my father was gone, but his clinic was still there, and I knew where the poisons were…but then I found a package Keiko had sent me just a few days before we were taken." He reached into his pocket and held up a bird-call. "I carry this everywhere, to remind me of her and how much she believed in me."

"I wish we could have recruited Hirono," Sakura said. "She had talent…real talent…but she was always too close to that damn 'Hardcore' Souma, and I didn't trust sweet Mitsuko as far as I could throw a fit." She sighed. "It's almost certainly too late now. Didn't you say that she'll be resettled somewhere else, away from Shiroiwa?"

They all looked at Shogo. Since admitting to his past, he had become their expert on all matters related to the Program. Shogo nodded. "Yeah…one-way ticket to the territories. They give you a stipend, set you up with a place to stay, and enrol you in a new school as soon as you're able to go." He cracked a sardonic smile, and quoted one of the government's favorite maxims: "'Education is the future of our glorious Greater East Asia Republic,' after all." They all snorted contemptously.

"Tomorrow, we up stakes and head for Tokyo," Kaz reminded them. "It'll be a weekend, so we won't be conspicuous, and we all have false identification, thanks to Old Tanaka." Kaz grinned. "I'll say that Old Tanaka came through for us like a real champion."

It was a couple of weeks since they'd dragged themselves up, soaked and bedraggled, onto shore. Their night swim from Okishima Island to a suitably-deserted stretch of the Honshu coastline of the Seto Inland Sea had taken several hours, and the water had been colder than they had anticipated. Their improvised raft had served them well, keeping their outer clothing and the weapons they had taken along dry. Shivering and cursing, they had stripped, unself-consciously wringing as much salt water out of their underwear as they could before getting dressed again. By the time they were done, dawn was breaking and it was time to get under cover.

Shogo and Kaz could both drive, and with Kaz' lockpicking skills, they soon had transportation into town. They had been hidden in the apartment before full daylight, with their stolen car parked a safe distance away. For the first couple of days, they had just slept, taken turns with the minimal bathing facilities, and eaten huge take-out meals, basking in freedom. Then they had started turning their stolen weapon stash into cash, keeping a few of them aside for emergencies. Kaz and Sakura had also emptied their bank accounts, knowing that cash in hand was more useful than debit cards that could be cancelled in a second if something went wrong.

The man who'd been Kaz' and Sakura's main source for illegal goodies and biggest buyer of stolen goods that they couldn't plausibly say had been given them had come through with fresh new identification papers for all of them. The papers said that they were a few years older than they were, and had graduated ninth grade, which made it legal for them not to be in school; the Greater East Asia Republic recognized that not everybody was college material, and encouraged those who would not benefit from further study to get out and into the workforce.

Once they had the papers, Shogo had hacked into the government's databases and entered data that showed that they were valid. From that moment, they could face police checks with confidence. To all appearances, they _were_ their new identities. Kazuo thought it was going to be odd to be going by a different name, but he figured it beat the daylights out of a post-mortem name, which was what almost all his classmates now had.

Some weeks later, they had settled into their new home. It was a run-down house in a backwater section of the national capital. The area was mostly factories, and there weren't too many other houses. Many of the neighbors were members of "national minorities," mainly Korean, and they all tended to mind their own business. The local police had been told that they were a group of cousins from the Kanto area who had come to the capital to find work.

With their false identifications, finding jobs had been no particular problem. Noriko had lucked into a job that was a particular plum for them, working as a data-entry clerk in the local offices of the national police force. She was able to track their activities, and provide her friends with warnings if the police got on their trails.

Shogo, smart as a whip, had parlayed his computer skills into working for a small computer firm. He built and modified the machines to the customers' specifications, and often added little extras to the programming that would allow him or the others to access those machines, if it became necessary to do so. He kept track of whose machines had passed under his hands, and some of them were in places where his friends could use the information they contained.

Shuya was working on a delivery truck, and playing in an after-hours music club; it wasn't the rock-and-roll that he loved, but it was about as close as it could be without bringing down the wrath of the authorities. He was happier than Kaz could ever remember seeing him. Of course, being paired-off with Noriko helped a lot. Kaz remembered how much nicer the world had become for him once he had found Sakura…

Meanwhile, Kaz and Sakura were working as office drones, ostensibly saving up money so that they could get places of their own and leave their "cousins" behind. In their new jobs, at a major insurance company and a bank, they were able to pick up all sorts of interesting, useful information.

And at night, a few times a month, they went on their other job. Shogo and Shuya turned out to be wonderful additions to the team; smart, adaptable, strong and agile. Shogo had a real gift for dealing with alarm systems, and Shuya could blarney his way past suspicious people easily. Also, he had access to the delivery truck he worked on, which made hauling swag much easier. He was even able to hide things they'd stolen at his place of work sometimes. Noriko didn't usually go out on those jobs, but the information she provided was invaluable.

One day Noriko came home with something that was far more interesting than the location of a potential rich haul of swag. She stamped into the house, kicked off her shoes like the well-bred girl she still was, and stalked into the main living area where the others were sitting around, discussing what to do for dinner.

Shuya was the first to notice her mood. "Noriko, what's wrong? Did you get fired?"

Noriko shook her head. With a shaking hand, she pulled a computer printout from her handbag and threw it onto the table before them. They crowded around, and gasped when they saw what it was. The name at the top of the dossier was one they'd never, ever forget: _Yonemi Kamon_.

"Are you sure it's him?" Shogo's eyes were wide, and he'd gone very pale. All of them were remembering the sickening fear they'd felt awakening in that hellish "classroom," with the deadly explosive collars around their necks, with Kamon's hateful drawl explaining the rules of the Battle Royale Program to them.

"As sure as I can be. The name's not too common, and the national police have databases that track nearly the whole population. Hell,_ you _should know…you were the one who snuck our new identities onto those databases. I haven't been able to find a picture of the bastard yet, but the dossier they have on him makes it almost certain that it's the same man." She pointed. "See…the age is right, the occupation is 'government worker,' which covers a lot of things that the Republic government doesn't necessarily want bandied about, and the salary records show a lot of travel vouchers." The others' eyes went wide as she pointed out: "Nearly all of them are at the same times that the Battle Royale Program's going on. It's not conclusive, but…"

"We can always check him out," Sakura breathed, her eyes glittering dangerously.  
"And if he turns out to be the man we're thinking he is…"

No more needed to be said. All of them smiled, and if Yonemi Kamon had seen those smiles, he'd have run for his miserable life.

Checking out this target wasn't different from any of their other victims. Between Shogo's computer skills, Noriko's access to the national nets via her job, and Kaz and Sakura's skills at casing premises to evaluate them for a potential break-in, they soon had all the information they needed.

"He works fairly regular hours, and doesn't have a wife. He _did_, but she walked out on him some years ago and hasn't seen him since," reported Noriko. Her pretty face twisted in a savage sneer, very unlike her usual expressions. "I wonder why _that_ would be?"

Shuya looked grim. Kaz could see that he was remembering how Kamon had boasted about raping the director of the orphanage he had grown up in, when she had protested his and Yoshi's class being selected for the Program. He thought for a second about what he'd want to do to someone who'd wantonly abused Sakura, and the spasm of rage that shook him shocked him. _Guess I'm not totally evil, after all_, he thought. _Who'd have thunk it?_

Shuya finally spoke up. "We can't bring our dead classmates back. But what do you say about us doing something about this typhus germ, Kamon?"

All of them nodded their heads solemnly.


	17. Chapter 17

Folie a Deux Chapter 17

by Technomad

The night was dark, and the neighborhood wasn't too well-lit. Sakura, Noriko, Shogo and Kazuhiko didn't arouse any suspicion; they were dressed in high-school uniforms they'd bought in a second-hand clothing store, and, to all appearances, they were nothing but a bunch of harmless teenagers. The policeman in his box didn't give them a second glance as they traipsed along; it was late, but they had backpacks that looked to be full of books, and could easily have come from a _juku_, or "cram school,"…an after-school establishment intended to help its pupils pass their exams, one way or another.

Kaz privately thought that the "examination hell" that drove so many to breakdowns, madness, and even suicide was like the Battle Royale Program, albeit not as deliberately lethal. While he sometimes wondered how well he and Sakura would have done, he was glad that they were free of _that_ terror, at least. A cousin of his had gone clear off his head, and been dragged away, screaming, in the night. He had also heard of suicides, where people who couldn't pass the tests killed themselves rather than face their parents' disappointment and a life devoid of opportunity.

_Better a life as an outlaw than one in a padded cell!_ he thought, not for the first time. He thought that one reason for his taking up crime was as a way to protest his parents' overwhelming ambition for him. While he was always very careful not to ever get caught, the existence of his secret double life was something that his parents couldn't take away, and couldn't have taken the credit for.

The four of them were now just about in position. The house they had targeted was dark, but they knew the owner was home; they had unobtrusively staked it out earlier, and had seen the squat, bushy-haired Kamon going on in, unsuspecting of any danger. The plaque with the resident's name, _Kamon_, was right where it should have been, by the front gate. There was no chance of a mistake.

When they were sure that nobody was watching, they moved quickly. Shogo and Kaz held out their hands, making stirrups, and Noriko and Sakura, being smaller and lighter, vaulted up, using those stirrups and the boys' muscles to help propel them lightly over the wall, passing the broken glass and spikes at the top as though they didn't exist.

A few minutes passed, and the front gate opened quietly. "There doesn't seem to be any alarm systems," Sakura murmured as the boys slipped inside.

The house was surrounded by a little garden, in the manner of many other middle-class houses in the Greater East Asia Republic. With land prices so exorbitantly high, the house was probably owned by the government and leased to Kamon as part of the perqs of his job; he could never, never have afforded it on any salary he could conceivably have earned. The light was very poor, but they were all used to working in near-darkness, and had penlights for when they really needed them.

As the member of their little group who was the best at picking locks, Kaz bent to work on the front door while Sakura shone a small light on the lock and the others stood close by, shielding the light from being seen with their bodies. While the chances of being seen were very slender, they had not come so far by taking any unnecessary chances.

A twiddle _here_, a twiddle _there_, and the lock clicked open. They entered as silently as ninjas; the shoes they were wearing had crepe soles and left footprints smaller than their own real feet. Any investigators would hopefully be confused by this, and be looking for children, not people of their age. Kaz thought that he and Sakura hadn't been children for a long time, and the others had ended their childhoods when they first awoke with the Program's accursed collars around their necks.

The house was laid out very much like others that they had entered without invitations. There was just enough ambient light that they didn't need their penlights, and they found their way to the bedroom easily, guided by resounding snores.

Yonemi Kamon was lying on his bed, mouth open, looking even less appetizing than he did when he was awake, something that Kaz, at least, would have sworn was impossible. He had apparently been regaling himself with some booze; the stink of whiskey nearly covered the smell from his nearly-uncontrollable farting. Kaz was a fairly fastidious soul; one reason he and Sakura liked targeting drunks was because they both found such loss of control distasteful. They smiled at each other. The Program director's hoggish ways made this even easier than it would normally have been!

As their expert in matters medical, Shogo had come prepared with hypodermic needles and drugs. Noriko and Kazuhiko held the director down, while Sakura put her hands firmly over his mouth, and Shogo injected him with a muscle relaxant that would make him as limp as a wet noodle. Once the drug had taken hold, they turned on the lights, and found some street clothes, pulling them on over his pajamas as he rolled his eyes frantically, unable to resist or call for help.

When he was dressed, at least well enough to pass at first glance, they put the second part of their plan into operation. Shogo and Kazuhiko muscled the director to his feet, and they hauled him out, turning off the light behind them. Once he was out of the house, they slipped him out of the front gate. Noriko pulled out a pocket-sized bottle of whiskey, pouring it over him. The stink of whiskey was all the explanation anybody would need as to why this man was being helped along by two public-spirited young people. Drunk salarymen were a very common sight, and not worth a second glance.

By the time they'd come to a reasonably wide street, Shuya was waiting for them with the delivery truck. His employers hadn't noticed it when he abstracted the keys to the truck long enough to get copies made, and they never used it at night, so "borrowing" it had been child's play. They had used it before, when a burglary job had involved swag that they couldn't move easily, but this was the most important job of all!

With Kamon tied up securely in the back, all of them changed clothes quickly, into delivery-company uniforms. Shuya, again, had obtained them, one at a time, from his employers. Noriko pushed her hair up under a cap, and Sakura's hair was already cut as short as many men wore theirs, so when they were done, they looked like some hard-working delivery people on a late-night delivery. Of course, real delivery people wouldn't have been packing pistols, with every intention of shooting to kill if questioned too closely…

Some hours later, they pulled into a bleak industrial park. The property was tied up in litigation between several ostensible owners, and wasn't actually being used; there were several run-down buildings that they had scouted out thoroughly. They pulled into a bay between two of them, opened the back, and hustled Kamon out. Shuya peeled out, to return the truck to his bosses before it was missed. The others dragged Kamon, who was still unable to resist, out and into one particular building, where they had set up a special welcome for him.

Yonemi Kamon was struggling to throw off the influence both of the drugs they had injected into his veins and the goodly amount of whiskey he had consumed earlier that night. His eyes were focussed, and he writhed, even though he couldn't really control his limbs yet. His mouth opened, and closed; one side-effect of the drug cocktail that Shogo had come up with was paralysis of the vocal cords.

"Aww, are you trying to call for help?" fleered Shogo. "Go ahead and try. Nobody's around. This is early Sunday morning, and this is not near where people normally go, anyway." Efficiently, he directed the others in tying Kamon down and cutting his clothes off. By the time they were done, the Program director would have been very lucky to be able to do more than wiggle his bushy eyebrows.

They waited patiently for Shuya's return; the company where he worked wasn't too far away, which was how they had found this place; he had noticed it, and had tipped them off to its existence. It took a couple of hours for him to get back, and by that time, Kamon had thrown off most of the effects of the drugs.

"Good morning, teacher!" carolled Shuya. "Do you remember us? Any of us?" They all gathered around, as Kamon's terrified eyes flicked from one of their faces to the next. "Oh, it looks like you don't remember us at all!"

"I remember _you_," Kamon croaked, cutting his eyes toward Shogo, who was standing at the foot of the table he'd been tied to, giving Kamon one of his trademark sardonic smiles. "You won the Battle Royale program before! You were the winner from Kobe, about two years back! But you're-"

"In _Tokyo_?" Shogo's expression would not have been mistaken for a smile by anybody sane. "So are you. Guess we just can't stay apart from each other, can we?"

"How about us?" put in Noriko. She was normally a sweet, nice, docile girl – a "Yamato Nadeshiko," or "true flower of Japan," to use the old-fashioned term for what was still seen, in conservative circles, as the ideal toward which all females should strive. However, at the moment, she was much more like another Japanese archetype. She was every inch the grim _samurai_ woman of yore, ready to exact terrible vengeance on one who had dishonored her or her house. "Do you remember the rest of us at all?"

"I don't think he remembers us," Sakura said, her voice full of mocking sorrow. "How dreadful that makes me feel! I wonder what they'd say back in Shiroiwa?" At this, Kamon was visibly agitated. "You never did find our bodies, did you? Did you think we'd just fallen or jumped into the sea?"

"Speaking of feelings," Shogo explained, "the stuff I injected you with? Tetrodoxin. It's isolated from the liver of the fugu fish. Basically, the derivative I used paralyzes you, but it leaves your other neurological functions fully intact. In plain language, you can't move a muscle; pretty soon you won't even be able to speak. But you're fully able to feel."

"In particular, you can feel pain," Shuya continued. "And you, _dear teacher_, are about to feel more pain than you can ever begin to imagine."

"My dad, may he rest in peace, was a doctor in a bad part of Kobe," Shogo took up the explanation, leaning close so that he could look into Kamon's wildly rolling eyes. "I was his scrub-nurse from about the time I could help out around the clinic. I learned a lot about the human body, and what you can and can't do with it; we did a lot of emergency surgery." Shogo winked at Kazuhiko and Sakura. "Did some bullet-hole repair for the local Yakuza, too. Hey, it helped pay the bills."

They had found a huge mirror, and positioned it over the table where they had Kamon. He looked up, and began breathing stertorously as terror took hold. On the mirror, they had taped a copy of their class group picture. The faces of their dead classmates were looking down on Yonemi Kamon.

"See the picture?" Noriko leaned over Kamon. She hissed: "I hope our classmates' spirits, and Mr. Hayashida's spirit, are close by. We couldn't save them, but we're going to do something about you!" She turned to Sakura. "I wish we'd thought to track down Hirono Shimizu. She should be here."

"You should have mentioned it," Shogo commented. "I did track her down. She's up in Hokkaido, in Sapporo. Not doing too well, either. She's dived head-first into the _shochu_ bottle."

"In any case, Hirono or no Hirono," snarled Shuya, "this is for all of them! It's for Yoshi, and Ms. Anno, and all the other victims of your foul Program!" He picked up a knife. "Today will be the day when you find out just how much pain the human body can stand! Shogo, here, will keep you alive and conscious for as long as possible, while directing the rest of us in dismembering you, a piece at a time!"

A week later, the five of them were sitting around the house. The television was on, and all of a sudden, Noriko was staring at the screen. "Turn it up!"

The announcer was talking about a strange thing that had happened a few days ago. "Here in Shiroiwa, the town is buzzing about a mysterious event. In the main municipal graveyard, a severed head appeared on the grave of a Mr. Yoshi Hayashida, a local teacher who died recently. The head was dressed and prepared like an old-time war trophy, and was left on the grave in the middle of the night by a person or persons unknown. This action is reminiscent of incidents from history, when samurai would place the heads of enemies on the graves of those wronged by those enemies.

"The head belongs to a Mr. Yonemi Kamon, a mid-level government bureaucrat. Officials have expressed puzzlement at this, saying that they don't know of any reason why anybody would have treated him like this. At this time, there are no leads, and the rest of the corpse has not been located, although the Shiroiwa area has been searched thoroughly."

"Since the 'corpse' is food for crabs in Tokyo Bay, they'll have to search a long time before they find it," drawled Kazuhiko, as he drew Sakura closer for a cuddle. "And maybe now our classmates' spirits can rest a bit easier. What do you think, Noriko?"

Noriko had, very much to Kaz' surprise, taken the lead in the torturing. She had been ferocious and intense enough to frighten all of them a little. She smiled, looking for a moment like she had the morning after the first night she had spent sleeping with Shuya. "All I can say is that he got off much too easily."

"And thanks to your job, if the trackers get on our trails, although that's not too likely, we can split to another city," Sakura opined. She had also done quite a bit more than her share, and Kaz had been silently amused at Shuya's and Shogo's surprise. "Speaking of your job…do you think you could look for a transfer? If you were in the main police station, you could have access to more data."

"They're looking for someone to work down there. I'll put in my application tomorrow morning." With that, they put Kamon into the past, and turned to the future ahead of them.

THE END

(Author's note: _I should thank the makers of the movie __Law Abiding Citizen__ for the inspiration for what I did to Kamon._)


End file.
